
Glass _ 
Book 



COPYRIGHT DRPOS1T 



YE 
KINGDOME OF ACCAWMACKE 

OR THE 

EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA 

IN THE 

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 






BY 

JENNINGS CROPPER WISE 

MEMBER 

Virginia Historical Society 



THE BELL BOOK AND STATIONERY CO. 

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 
1911 



tT; 



Copyright, 1911 by 
Jennings Cropper Wise 



©Q.A2 



DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF 

MY GRANDFATHER 

HENRY ALEXANDER WISE 

OF 

Virginia and Accomack, 

WHOSE CHARACTER AND CAREER FIND EXPRESSION IN HIS 
FAMOUS REMARK : 

" I have met the Black Knight with his 

visor down, and his shield and 

lance are broken." 



PEEFACE 

The author of this volume, which purports to be a History 
of the Eastern Shore of Virginia in the Seventeenth Cen- 
tury, submits the completed work to the public. He can 
only say that he has not failed where others have succeeded, 
for the little peninsula has had no former historian. The 
task was undertaken in the hope that the very deficiencies 
in his own narrative might urge a more competent pen to 
action and inspire a better history of this long-neglected 
region of the Old Dominion. If this volume accomplish 
no other result than to impress a more able writer with the 
valuable material for such a work, if it call attention to 
events of all-absorbing interest as yet inadequately described, 
and bring to light from among the musty archives of Acco- 
mac and Northampton but a few facts bearing upon the 
history of our State, then will the author rest content in the 
feeling that while he has not succeeded as a historian, yet 
he has induced a more accurate portraiture of a country 
and a people. 

It is an astonishing fact that such historic documents as 
the Pledge to the Commonwealth, The Northampton Pro- 
test, The Northampton Grievances, Bacon's Appeal to Ac- 
comac, and the Accomac Memorial, addressed to Berkeley 
after the Rebellion of 1676, should all have been utterly 
neglected by the historians of Virginia, for these documents 
are not simply matters of local interest, but have a direct 
bearing upon the general history of the State. Indeed, the 
texts of these instruments have never before been collected 
in a single volume. Yet, the disregard of such significant 
matters in our State annals is no more unaccountable than 
the absence from the histories of any mention of the remark- 



vi PREFACE 

able industrial and trade development of the Eastern Shore 
prior to the middle of the Seventeenth Century; of the 
flourishing mercantile intercourse between that region and 
New England, New Netherlands, Holland, England and the 
West Indies; of the powerful colony of Dutch, German and 
New England citizens upon the soil of Virginia in its 
earliest days, and of the fact that the King's forces were 
equipped, provisioned and paid with money loaned to the 
King by the loyal gentry of Accomac and Northampton in 
1676. The author does not demand that matters of purely 
local import should fill the pages of a general State history. 
He does maintain, however, that no work can justly claim 
to be an accurate and complete history of Early Virginia 
which disregards such fundamental facts as those above 
mentioned. 

In the writing of this brief sketch, the temptation was 
ever present to dwell upon the genealogy of the people, to 
intrude facts of family history and tradition into its pages, 
but the author has succumbed only where it seemed neces- 
sary to illumine historical facts by reference to family con- 
nections, reserving a full genealogical history of the people 
for a subsequent work, which will also deal with the period 
from 1700 through the War of 1861-65. 

To Eastern Shoremen, the death of Mr. Thomas T. Up- 
shur, of Northampton, in January, 1910, was a sad loss, for 
had he lived to weave into the form of a history the vast 
knowledge of his people which he had acquired by a long 
life of research among their records, no need of this work 
would have existed. 

The author desires to express the deepest indebtedness to 
Mr. Griffin C. Callahan, of Philadelphia, who, though he 
had for years been collecting historical data concerning the 
Eastern Shore, unselfishly placed the fruits of his research 



PEEFACE vii 

at another's disposal ; to Mr. Philip Alexander Bruce, the 
greatest of Virginia's historians, who, besides offering many 
valuable suggestions, performed the laborious task of read- 
ing and correcting the manuscript; to Mr. Wm. G. Stanard 
of the Virginia Historical Society, and Mr. Earl G. Swem, 
Assistant Librarian of the Virginia State Library, both of 
whom materially assisted the author in the collection of 
authorities and rendered research in their libraries both 
pleasant and simple ; and lastly, to Mr. John Hart, of Rich- 
mond, who has been an ever appreciated adviser in many 
phases of this work. 

It is almost unnecessary to add that the wealth of his- 
torical matter, brought together by the tireless energy of 
Mr. Bruce, and placed at the disposal of the student in his 
"Immortal Trilogy," has been lavishly drawn upon. 
Indeed, no writer of Virginia history may hope to succeed 
without trespassing upon those priceless pages. 

At the great risk of unduly cumbering this book in the 
eyes of the casual reader, the text of many statutes and 
abstracts of old records have been set forth verbatim, in 
order that the student may have the authorities at hand. 
The spelling of various Indian names throughout the work 
has been purposely varied in order to illustrate the unset- 
tled orthography of native nomenclature. The name selected 
for this first volume of Eastern Shore History involves the 
title applied to the little peninsula by the Sovereigns of the 
Seventeenth Century, who frequently addressed their de- 
crees to "Ye Colony of Virginia and Ye Kingdome of Ac- 
cawmacke." 

And now the author, at the completion of his Preface, 
rests his pen, inviting criticism, but with the conceit of 
human nature, hopeful that with censure may come some 
meed of praise. Jennings Cropper Wise. 

Richmond, Va., March 1, 1910. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I. Verrazano Discovers the Eastern Shore — 1524. 

The Massacre of Gilbert— 1603 1 

II. The Coming of the English and Smith's Explora- 
tions— 1607-8 11 

III. Argoll's Visit and Dale's Gift— 1613-20 21 

IV. The Plantation of Accomack— 1620-34 27 

V. The Kingdom of Accawmacke and the Aborigines 49 

VI. Origin of the People 68 

VII. The County or Shire of Accomack. Kent Island 

—1634-42 81 

VIII. The County of Northampton. Indian Scares — 

1642-1652 96 

IX. The Dutch War* The Eastern Shore under the 
Commonwealth. The Northampton Protest — 
1652-1659 124 

X. The Quakers. Maryland Boundary Troubles. The 

Assateague War— 1659-1660 153 

XI. The Restoration. Accomack Formed from North- 
ampton. The Calvert-Scarburgh Line. The 
Pirates— 1660-1674 164 

XII. The Arlington-Culpeper Grant. Bacon's Rebel- 
lion— 1674-1677 191 

XIII. Towns and Courthouses Built. Tobacco Troubles. 

Jacobitism— 1677-1700 223 

ix 



x CONTENTS 

PAGE 

XIV. The Early Church on the Eastern Shore. Puritan 

Ministers. Makemie 250 

XV. The Negro and the Slave 285 

XVI. Trade. Commerce. Industries 289 

XVII. Horses. Stock. Game. Fish, Etc 307 

XVIII. Social Conditions. Customs and Traditions 316 



*■ 



Verrazano Discovers the Eastern Shore. The 
Massacre of Gilbert 

Between latitude 37° and 39!/2 north and running almost 
due north and south at about 76° west longitude, is a penin- 
sula formed by the Chesapeake Bay, Atlantic Ocean and 
Delaware Bay, which, embraces the greater part of the State 
of Delaware, about one third of Maryland, and two counties 
of Virginia. That portion at present included within the 
limits of Virginia is about seventy miles in length, extend- 
ing from the Pocomoke River, near where it is intersected 
by the thirty-eighth parallel of north latitude, to Cape 
Charles, and having a mean breadth of about eight miles. 
It is a flat and sandy tract, largely covered with pines and 
swept by breezes of the Atlantic and Chesapeake, whose 
waters lave it on either side. The monotony of the country, 
due to the absence of mountains, hills or broken surface, is 
relieved by the picturesque bays and creeks which make up 
into the mainland at frequent intervals along its coasts. 

The Indians gave this isolated peninsula the name of 
"Acchawmake," or Accomac, 1 which in our tongue signifies 
"land beyond the water," a meaning that has reference to 
the location of the peninsula, separated as it is from the 
mainland of Virginia by the Chesapeake Bay. 

^pelt variously, Accomack, Accomacke, Accawmake, Acchawmacke, 
Accomac, Achomat. (Algonquin for "a broad bay" or "the other side- 
land.") Chesapeake — a superior or greater salt bav. Pocomoke — 
"Knobby." 



2 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

The two counties, which together make up this peninsula, 
known as the Eastern Shore of Virginia, are Accomac and 
Northampton, the latter lying to the south of and being a 
little more than half as large as the former. Together they 
formerly comprised that section of Virginia known to the 
first English Colonists as "Ye Antient Kingdome of Ac- 
cawmake." 

On account of the physical character of our little penin- 
sula, the English Sovereigns of the Seventeenth Century are 
said to have called it by the peculiarly appropriate name of 
"Chersonesus Orientalis," for it resembles not only in physi- 
cal features, but in fertility of soil, the famous peninsula of 
the Thracian Hellespont. 

Not only during the period embraced in these pages, but 
down to a comparatively recent date, in spite of the salubrity 
of its climate, the astonishing fertility of its soil, the fame 
of its scholars, soldiers and statesmen, the Eastern Shore 
remained a terra incognita, a dim and shadowy land some- 
where towards the rising sun. The denizens of this remote 
Kingdom were supposed to be a primitive race of fishermen 
and oystermen, grown drowsy through years of basking in 
the tempered rays of the sun or, like the land itself, over- 
come by the ennui of a perpetual sea bath. But no man can 
feel the vigorous pulse of its history, without realizing that 
the best blood of the "Old Dominion" coursed in undiluted 
form through the veins of the Accawmackians. 

When Captain Smith wrote that "Heaven and earth seemed 
never to have agreed better to have framed a place for man's 
commodious and delightful habitation," his mind no doubt 
dwelt in sweet meditation upon the little Kingdom which he 
described as a place of pleasant clayey soil and for which he 
ever evinced a tender affection. 



EASTEEN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 3 

The soil of the peninsula, which is of post-tertiary forma- 
tion, is a portion of that great alluvial marine plain, which 
extends from Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts along 
the Atlantic coast as far as the Gulf of Mexico. It consists 
of a rich sandy loam that yields with great facility to culti- 
vation. Densely wooded by nature, innumerable clearings 
had been made by the natives, along the margin of creek and 
marsh, when the first white men took up their abode there. 
Luxuriant fields of Indian corn and tobacco filled the clear- 
ings and rustled in the breezes from the sea and bay, and 
owing to the mildness of the climate and the consequent 
length of the growing season, the earth, even with the primi- 
tive methods of native husbandry, was able to produce two 
crops in a single year. 

From Pocomoke to the Cape, the land was as level as the 
sea which refreshed it with her cooling breath, nor did stone 
or rocks of any kind oppose the plowshare of the planter. 
The sombre forest mingled the pungent odor of pine with 
the delicate scent of wild flowers, woven by nature into a 
variegated carpet on the ground beneath. Innumerable 
springs trickled from the earth, their cool water forced up 
by the pressure of the tide ; the waves which washed the 
shores paused not at their watery limits but swept on from 
a sea of blue through the boundless meadows of the marge. 

The discovery of the Eastern Shore of Virginia was the 
result of a long search for a northwestern passage to Cathay. 
Early in the sixteenth century there was in the employ of 
Francis the First, King of France, a soldier or sailor of 
fortune, named Giovanni de Verrazano, whom the French- 
men of Dieppe called Jean Verrassen, or Juan Florin. Ver- 
razano was born about 1480, in Florence, of distinguished 
parents. Fired by the tales of adventure and discovery 
which filled men's minds at the time, he perfected himself 



4 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

in the sciences of navigation and geography, and became a 
skilful pilot and a learned navigator. He soon entered the 
service of France, and with headquarters at Dieppe, suc- 
cessfully preyed upon the commerce of Spain, winning 
royal favor by capturing much gold and other treasure. 

Columbus had labored under the mistaken belief that the 
shores on which he had landed were the shores of Asia, and 
his last voyage was made in quest of the Strait of Malacca, 
which he believed to be near the Isthmus of Panama. Other 
voyages, however, following close thereafter, disclosed an 
unbroken coast line from Patagonia to Florida, and the fact 
that the land of Columbus was a new world had begun to 
dawn upon navigators and geographers by 1521. They saw 
in it a barrier between Europe and Asia, and the return of 
Magellan's exhausted expedition in 1522 satisfied them of 
the impracticability of the Cape Horn route to the East. 

Verrazano having been commissioned by the French King 
to explore the coast of the New World in search of a north- 
western passage, in the autumn of 1523 set sail from Dieppe 
with two ships. After several mishaps, one of which caused 
the loss of a vessel, he sighted the coast of North Carolina 
on March 10, 1524, and named the country "Dieppa," an 
Italianized form of Dieppe. After making a landing a lit- 
tle north of Cape Fear, he proceeded northward, ever in 
search of an easy route to Cathay, and in some unaccount- 
able way passed the Virginia Capes. When Verrazano next 
landed, it was upon the Eastern Shore of Virginia, about 
ten miles north of Cape Charles, and he no doubt has the 
honor of being the first white man to set foot upon that soil, 
unless preceded by the Vikings, or by the Welchmen of 
Prince Madoc's Band, who are said to have infested the 
neighboring shores in the dim ages of the past. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 5 

During the three days which Verrazano spent on the 
Eastern Shore, he penetrated inland from the sea coast and 
viewed the majestic waters of Chesapeake Bay. This first 
sight of what appeared to be an almost boundless body of 
water led to a world-wide error, requiring three generations 
for its correction ; for confident that he had seen the western 
sea, Verrazano returned to his ship, La Dauphine, and coast- 
ing northward, entered the Hudson and the Penobscot in 
quest of the much-desired passage. Disappointed in his 
search, but with experience, and just enough knowledge to 
mislead the geographers, he returned to Europe and with 
his brother Hieronimo or Giralamo de Verrazano, in 1529, 
based upon his discoveries a map which exercised great in- 
fluence upon subsequent navigation and exploration. This 
map and the one of Vesconte Maggiolo, drafted about the 
same time, depicted Florida as connected with Mexico and 
also with Labrador by a long, narrow isthmus. Between 
Mexico and the continental mass to the north, through which 
the Hudson and Penobscot were supposed to flow, was rep- 
resented an immense sea, a reach of the Pacific ; and at the 
point where Verrazano landed on the Eastern Shore, a nota- 
tion informs us that here the isthmus is but six miles wide. 
This sea of Verrazano, spreading over what is really the 
western and central portion of the United States, was re- 
garded as a reality for years, and continued to be represented 
on maps until the middle of the sixteenth century, when 
de Soto and Coronado proved the existence of land from 
Florida to California; but even then land was supposed to 
continue only to the 40th parallel. 1 

'For reduced copy of the map of Hieronimo de Verrazano see Windsor, 
Narr. and Crit. History, Vol. IV, p. 26. The original is in the college of 
the Propaganda at Rome. 



6 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

It has been questioned whether Verrazano ever made such 
a voyage as he claimed to have made in 1524, 1 and the 
student of history must study the authorities and satisfy 
himself as to the soundness of the claims. 2 It will be 
hard, however, to shake the faith of Eastern Shoremen in 
Verrazano's veracity after they peruse the following extract 
taken from his letter to Francis the First: 

"Departing hence, and always following the shore, which 
stretched to the north, we came, in space of fifty leagues, to 
another land, which appeared very beautiful and full of the 
largest forests. We approached it, and going ashore with 
twenty men, we went back from the coast about two leagues, 
and found that the people had fled and hid themselves in 
the woods for fear. By searching around we discovered in 
the grass a very old woman and a young girl of about 
eighteen or twenty, who had concealed themselves for the 
same reason. The old woman carried two infants on her 
shoulders, and behind her neck a little boy eight years of 
age; when we came up to them they began to shriek and 
make signs to the men who had fled to the woods. We gave 
them a part of our provisions, which they accepted with de- 
light, but the girl would not touch any ; everything we offered 
to her being thrown down in great anger. We took the little 
boy away from the old woman to carry with us to France, 
and would have taken the girl also, who was very beautiful 
and very tall, but it was impossible because of the loud 
shrieks she uttered as we attempted to lead her away ; having 
to pass some woods, and being far from the ship, we de- 
termined to leave her and take the boy only. We found them 
fairer than the others, and wearing a covering made of certain 

"The Voyage of Verrazano. Murphy, X. Y., 1875. 
*For authorities concerning Verrazano, collected by Mr. Fiske, see as 
follows : 

"Verrazano the Navigator," Brevoost, N. Y., 1874. 
Asher's Henry Hudson, London, 1860, pp. 197-228. 
Kohl's "Discovery of Maine," Chap. VIII. 

De Costa, Verrazano the Explorer, N. Y., 1881, with full bio- 
graphical note. 
Winsor. Narr. and Crit. History, Vol. IV, 1-30. 






EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 7 

plants, which hung down from the branches of the trees, 
tying them together with threads of wild hemp ; their heads 
are without covering, and of the same shape as the others. 
Their food is a kind of pulse which there abounds different in 
color and size from ours, and of a very delicious flavor. 
Besides, they take birds and fish for food, using snares and 
bows made of hard wood, with reeds for arrows, in the end 
of which they put the bones of fish and other animals. The 
animals in these regions are wilder than in Europe, from 
being continually molested by the hunters. We saw many 
of their boats made of one tree twenty feet long, four feet 
broad, without the aid of stone or iron or other kind of 
metal. In the whole country, for the space of two hundred 
leagues, which we visited, we saw no stone of any sort. To 
hollow out their boats, they burn out as much of a log as is 
requisite, and also from the prow and stern to make them 
float well on the sea. The land, in situation, fertility and 
beauty, is like the other, abounding also in forests filled 
with various kinds of trees, but not of such fragrance, as it 
is more northern and colder. 

"We saw in this country many vines growing naturally, 
which entwine about the trees, and run up upon them as 
they do in the plains of Lombardy. These vines would 
doubtless produce excellent wine if they were properly cul- 
tivated and attended to, as we have often seen the grapes 
which they produce very sweet and pleasant, and not unlike 
our own. They must be held in estimation by them, as they 
carefully remove the shrubbery from around them, wherever 
they grow, to allow the fruit to ripen better. We found also 
wild roses, violets, lilies, and many sorts of plants and fra- 
grant flowers different from our own. We can not describe 
their habitations as they are in the interior of the country, 
but from various indications we conclude they must be 
formed of trees and shrubs. We also saw many grounds for 
conjecturing that they often sleep in the open air, without 
any covering but the sky. Of their other customs we know 
nothing; we believe, however, that all the people we were 
among live in the same way." 1 

1 Early voyages to America. By Conway Robinson, p. 307. 



8 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

It is a strange fact that of the host of navigators who 
eagerly sought for a northwestern passage to the East, as a 
result of Magellan's voyage, two of the first landed upon 
Virginian soil, and are, as far as known, the first white men 
to visit Virginia. 

About the time Verrazano was cruising along the Atlantic 
Coast (in 1524), Lucas Vasquez d'Ayllon entered the Capes 
of Virginia in search of the passage. Attracted by the 
equable climate and the fertility of the soil, and failing to 
find the route to Cathay, d'Ayllon secured from his King, 
Charles V, a grant of the new-found land, and in 1526 built 
the town of San Miguel on the banks of the James River, 
near where Jamestown was founded eighty-one years later. 

The attempt of the Spaniards to found a permanent set- 
tlement in Virginia proved abortive. Internal strife and 
disease wiped out San Miguel, and the few survivors of 
what might be called an expedition, sailed away from Vir- 
ginia's shores in search of other adventure, leaving the task 
of the colonization of the country to the hardy and enterpris- 
ing sons of Britain. 

One event in the history of San Miguel was ominous of 
the future. The first white inhabitants of Virginia suffered 
sorely, as a result of the insurrection of negro slaves whom 
they brought with them. Ninety-three years before the 
Dutch deposited their unfortunate cargo of negroes at James- 
town, slavery had existed on Virginia soil, destroying the 
happiness of the first white occupants of the land, imperil- 
ing their safety, and ultimately leading to the destruction 
of their colony. The Dutch, however, are in no wise exon- 
erated for having imposed the awful burden of the negro 
upon the English Colonists of Virginia, by the mere state- 
ment of this fact, a fact too often ignored by the historians. 

Whether d'Ayllon set foot upon Virginia soil before Ver- 
razano landed on the Eastern Shore is not known, nor is it 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 9 

known whether d' Ay lion or any of his colonists visited the 
"Land across the water." It is hardly possible, however, 
that Spanish ships passed in and out between the capes with- 
out investigating the region to the north, as John Smith did 
in 1608, especially when we consider the inquisitive nature 
of the early Spaniards, and their practical seamanship and 
methods of exploration. Surely d'Ayllon in search of the 
northwest passage would never have sailed about the northern 
reaches of Chesapeake Bay without landing to obtain water 
or to investigate the natives, great numbers of whom usually 
lined the beaches to welcome strange visitors to their shores. 
Be that as it may, history records nothing in connection with 
the Eastern Shore of Virginia until 1G03. 

The traditions handed down to their sons and grandsons 
by the Accawmacke Indians, who welcomed Verrazano to 
their shores in 1524, could not have been very pleasant ones. 
Perhaps some of that explorer's men had treated the natives 
roughly or in some manner imposed upon them ; or perhaps 
other white men, of whom we have no knowledge, had landed 
upon the peninsula and aroused the enmity of the natives. 
Whatever the cause may have been, when the next white 
men of whom we know, after Verrazano, landed on the shores 
of Accawmacke, they were not received in a friendly or 
hospitable way. 

Bartholomew Gilbert, the son of the noted Sir Humphrey 
Gilbert, after a voyage to the New England coast, which 
lasted from March 26th to July 23rd, 1602, was seized with 
a great desire to search the more southern coasts of Virginia 
for the lost Colonists of Roanoke Island. 

Accordingly, he set sail in a bark of fifty tons, manned by 
a small crew, and being caught in a storm in July, 1603, off 
the Capes of Virginia, entered the bay in quest of a good 
harbor. Seeing to the north an inviting country, lined with 



10 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

great trees at the mouth of what appeared to be a river, 1 they 
headed for the Eastern Shore peninsula, and anchored about 
a mile on the beach. Being in great need of water and fuel, 
Captain Gilbert, accompanied by Master Thomas Canner, a 
gentleman of Bernard's Inne, as he styled himself, Richard 
Harison, 2 the master's mate, Henry Kenton, their "Chiru- 
gion," all well armed, went ashore, leaving two small boys 
on the beach to care for the boat. The party had gone only 
a short distance when the Indians fell upon them, killing 
Captain Gilbert and one other. With much difficulty the 
rest succeeded in saving the boat and reaching their comrades. 
From this unpromising neighborhood, and satisfied in their 
minds, no doubt, as to the fate of Sir Walter's unfortunate 
colonists, the crew of the good ship Elizabeth weighed an- 
chor and reached London, their home port, in September, 
1603, only to find the city "grievously infected with a terri- 
ble plague." 

The superstitious would say that the ill fortune of the 
venture was due to the day of landing, which was Friday. 
(29th of July, 1603. ) 3 

'Probably Bullock's Channel between Smith's Island and the Ma in- 
land. 

-First of the Harrisons in Virginia? 

3 A Voyage to Virginia in 1603. Written by Master Thomas Canner. 
See Purchas's Pilgrimes, p. 1656, Vol. IV. 



II 

The Coming of the English and Smith's Explorations 

In the year of our Lord, 1602, one Captain Bartholomew 
Gosnold visited the new world, and returned to London con- 
vinced of the great public, not to say personal, benefit to be 
derived from the planting of a Colony on the soil of Virginia. 
Not discouraged by the previous failures of Sir Walter 
Raleigh to colonize Virginia, Gosnold secured the support of 
John Smith, a soldier of fortune and of great repute, Edward 
Maria Wingfield, Parson Hunt, and others, and together 
they parleyed and lobbied about the Court of King James, 
spending much time and money among courtiers and influ- 
ential persons in the hope of bringing their influence to bear 
upon the King. Persistence conquered at last, and on April 
10, 1606, letters patent were issued, authorizing the estab- 
lishment of two colonies in Virginia. 

We shall concern ourselves only with the southern colony, 
the plantation of which was entrusted to a company composed 
of Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Somers, Knights ; Rich- 
ard Hackluyt, Clerk, prebendary of Westminster, Edward 
Maria Wingfield, and others, mostly residents of London. 
This Company was authorized to plant a Colony wherever 
they might choose between 34° and 41° of north latitude; 
and the King vested in them a right of property in the land 
extending along the sea coast fifty statute miles on each side 
of the place of their first plantation, and reaching into the 
interior one hundred miles from the sea coast, together with 
all islands within one hundred miles of their shores. 



11 



12 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

At length, three vessels were fitted out for the expedition, 
a pinnace of twenty tons, and two ships of forty and one 
hundred tons respectively, and placed under the command of 
Captain Christopher Newport, a navigator experienced in 
voyages to the New World. 

In the charter granted to Sir Thomas Gates and his asso- 
ciates, it was provided that the colony should have a council 
of its own, subject to a superior council in England; and on 
November 20, 160G, instructions were given by the King fur 
the government of the two colonies, directing that the council 
in England should be approved by the Crown, and the local 
council by the superior one in England. It was further pro- 
vided that the members of the junior council were to elect 
their own president annually from among their number. 
Orders were enclosed in a sealed box, which was put on boa rd 
the Commander's ship ; and it was ordered that this box was 
not to be opened until a landing in Virginia was effected. 

The little expedition set sail from Blaekwall, December 
19, 1606, and after a long and tedious voyage, not without 
adventure, however, "God, the guider of all good actions, did 
drive them by his providence to their desired port," on April 
26, 1607, which happened in this case to be a low and sandy 
point, which they named Cape Henry, after their Royal 
Prince. A number of the weary voyagers, who landed upon 
the Cape to investigate the new land, were angrily received by 
the natives, who showered arrows upon the intruders, wound- 
ing two of the party. Justly considering Cape Henry an 
inhospitable coast, the expedition departed therefrom in quest 
of a suitable spot for their settlement. That night the sealed 
orders were opened and it was found that Bartholomew Gos- 
nold, John Smith, Edward Maria Wingfield, Christopher 
Newport, John Ratcliffe, John Martin and George Kendall 
were to compose the first council. For seventeen days the 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 13 

expedition cast about for a suitable landing place, and finally, 
on May 13, 1607, it was determined to disembark upon what 
was afterwards known as Jamestown Island. Wingfield was 
immediately chosen President by the council, and under his 
command the work of settlement commenced. The foregoing 
account has been given by way of introduction to Captain 
John Smith, who after Verrazano, Gilbert, and possibly 
d'Ayllon, was the next white man to visit the Eastern Shore. 

It was very natural that the enthusiastic Gosnold should 
desire to enlist Smith's interest in behalf of his colonization 
scheme. A man of such great experience and prowess would 
be invaluable in the organization and establishment of a set- 
tlement in the wilderness of the New World, for trials and 
difficulties calculated to discourage and overcome the average 
man would merely lend zest to the venture, so far as Smith 
was concerned. 

If we read Smith's own account of his adventures in this 
and the Old World, while we may admire his courage and 
ability as a leader, yet we are forced to confess that he was 
somewhat of a braggart and given to self-exploitation. It is 
doubtful, however, if Smith were more of a boaster than other 
navigators and adventurers of his time, yet he seems to have 
aroused the jealousy of his companions, for soon after leaving 
the Canary Islands, where the ships replenished their supply 
of water on the way to Virginia, he was accused of plotting 
to usurp the command of the expedition and make himself 
King. For thirteen weeks, he was held in duress, and at the 
election of the President of the council, on the 13th day of 
May, the day of disembarkation at Jamestown, it was ex- 
plained at the meeting why he could not act as one of the 
council, to which he had been appointed in the sealed orders. 
The President offered to send him back to England with 
Captain Newport and let the charges against him drop, but 



1 I K ASTERN SHORE OF V1R< ! I X I A HISTORY 

Smith seeing Wingfleld's jealous desire to dispose of him, 
refused the offer, and by upright conduct, and the invaluable 
services which his experience and ability enabled him to per- 
form in behalf of the settlement, overcame all jealousy and 

picion, and disconcerted the machinations of his enemies, 
and through the good offices of Parson Hunt, was soon re- 
stored to the Council, and a reconciliation ensued. 

During the first year at Jamestown, Smith was busily 
engaged in exploring the James River and in negotiating and 
making friends with King Powdiatan, who had caused his 
capture and liberated him at the instance of Pocahontas. In 
his dealings with the savages, he had shown a master's hand ; 
and having made himself indispensable to the settlers, became 
their real leader. 

The second of June, 1608, John Smith left Jamestown 
with a small body of men, bent upon the exploration of the 
great bay, across the mouth of which they had sailed the year 
before, and upon the investigation of the character of the low 
lying land north of Cape Henry. 

The company was made up as follows : 

"Captain John Smith, Commander. 
Walter Russell, Dr. of Physicke. 

GENTLEMKX 

Rolf Alurton Richard Fetherston 

Thomas Momford James Bume 

William Comtrill. Michell Sicklemore 

SOULDIERS 

Jonas Profit James Watkins 

Anas Todkill John Powell 

Robert Small James Read 

Richard Keale " 



EASTEEN SHOEE OF VIEGINIA HISTOEY 15 

The account of the expedition from now on, as written 
or approved by Captain John Smith himself, is too interest- 
ing to omit, so it is inserted in full so far as it concerns the 
Eastern Shore. Referring to the above gentlemen and sol- 
diers, he writes : 

"These being in an open barge neare three tuns burthen, 
leaving the Phoenix at Cape Henry, they crossed the bay to 
the Eastern Shore, and fell with the Isles called Smiths Isles, 
after our Captaines name. 1 The first people we saw were 
two grim and stout Salvages upon Cape Charles, with long 
poles like Javelings, headed with bone, they boldly demanded 
what we were, and what we would ; but after many circum- 
stances they seemed very kinde, and directed us to Acco- 
mack, 2 the habitation of their Werowance, where we were 
kindly intreated. This King was the comliest, most proper, 
civill Salvage we incountered. His Country is a pleasant 
fertile clay soyle, some small creekes ; good harbours for 
small Barks, but not for Ships. He told us of a strange 
accident lately happende him, and it was, two children being 
dead ; some extreame passions, or dreaming visions, phan- 
tasies, or affection moved their parents againe to revisit their 
dead carkases, whose benumbed bodies reflected to the eyes 
of the beholders such delightful countenances, as though 
they had regained their vitall spirits. This as a miracle 
drew many to behold them, all which being a great part of his 
people, not long after dyed, and but few escaped. 3 They 
spake the language of Powhatan, wherein they made such 

a The island, still called Smith's Island, situated about two miles to 
the east of Cape Charles, and which is about twelve miles long and 
about two miles broad, must have been the principal island here 
alluded to. 

2 It is evident from Smith's map, inserted in his book, that this 
place, above alluded to, denominated by him in his said map, Accow- 
mack, was situated within the interior part of Cape Charles, and on or 
near the place called Cherryton, in Northampton county. 

3 The medicine men of the tribe may have embalmed the bodies in 
some way. It is probable that the children died of smallpox or some 
other contagious disease which was contracted by the curious visitors. 



16 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

descriptions of the Bay Isles, and rivers, that often did us 
exceeding pleasure. Passing along the coast, searching every 
inlet, and Bay, fit for harbours and habitations. Seeing 
many Isles in the midst of the Bay we bore up for them, but 
ere we could obtaine them, such an extreme gust of wind, 
rayne, thunder, and lightening happened, that with great 
danger we escaped the unmerciful raging of that Ocean-like 
water. The highest land on the Mayne, yet it was not low, 
we called Keales hill, 1 and these uninhabited Isles, Russell 
Isles. 2 The next day searching them for fresh water, we 
could find none, the defect whereof forced us to follow the 
next Easterne channell, which brought us to the river of 
"Wighcocomoco. The people at first with great fury seemed 
to assault us, yet at last with songs and daunces and much 
mirth became very tractable, but searching the habitations 
for water, we could fill but three barricoes, & that such pud- 
dles, that never till then we ever knew the want of good 
water. We digged and searched in many places, but before 
two daics were expired, we would have refused two barri- 
coes of gold for one of that puddle water of Wighcocomoco. 
Being past these Isles which are many in number, but all 
naught for habitation, falling with a high land upon the 
mayne, we found a great pond of fresh water, but so exceed- 



'From Smith's location of this "hill" on his map, it must have been 
some high land or rising ground on the bay-coast of Northampton 
County; perhaps somewhere about Onancock. He appears throughout 
his exploration of the Chesapeake to have given names to several places 
in compliment to individuals of his crew; probably from some incidental 
circumstances attending their discoveries, not mentioned in the narra- 
tion of his voyage. Richard Keale, one of his "souldiers," might possibly 
have first observed or discovered this "hill," and Smith called it after 
him. 

'These isles, which Smith called Russell's Isles (probably in com- 
pliment to his friend and present companion, Doctor Russell), were the 
lowest cluster within the bay. It is a very ordinary circumstance, how- 
ever, that in the latest and best maps of Maryland and Virginia a dis- 
agreement occurs in the denomination given to these lower Islands. In 
Griffith's map of Maryland, published in 1794, they are called Tangier 
Islands: but in that of Virginia, published by Bishop Madison in 1807, 
these same islands are denominated Watt's Islands. The later denomina- 
tion we may suppose to be the most correct. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 17 

ing hot that we supposed it some bath ; that place we called 
Poynt Ployer, in, honor of that most honourable house of 
Mousay in Britaine, that in an extreame extremities once 
relieved our Captaine. From Wighcocomoco to this place, 
all the coast is low broken Isles of Moras, growne a myle or 
two in breadth, and ten or twelve in length, good to cut for 
hay in Summer, and to catch fish and foule in Winter; but 
the land beyond them is all covered with wood, as is the rest 
of the Country. 

''Being thus refreshed in crossing over from the mayne to 
other Isles, we discovered the winde and waters so much 
increased with thunder, lightening, and raine, that our mast 
and sayle blew overboard and such mighty waves overrackes 
us in that small barge that with great labour we kept her 
from sinking by freeing out the water. Two days we were 
inforced to inhabite these uninhabited Isles which for the 
extremities of gusts, thunder, raine, stormes, and ill wether 
we called Limbo. Repairing our saile with our shirts, we 
set sayle for the maine and fell with a pretty convenient 
river on the East called Cuskarawack, the people ran as 
amazed in troups from place to place, and divers got into 
the tops of trees, they were not sparing of their arrowes, nor 
the greatest passion they could expresse of their anger. Long 
they shot, we still ryding at an Anchor without there reatch 
making all the signes of friendship we could. The next day 
they came unarmed, with every one a basket, dancing in a 
ring, to draw us on shore ; but seeing there was nothing in 
them but villany, we discharged a volley of muskets charged 
with pistoll shots, whereat they all lay tumbling on the 
grownd, creeping some oneway, some another into a great 
cluster of reeds hard by; where their companies lay in 
Ambuscade. Towards evening we wayed, & approached the 
shoare, discharging five or six shot among the reedes, we 
landed where there lay a many of baskets and much bloud, 
but saw not a Savage. A smoke appearing on the other side 
the river, we rowed thither, where we found two or three 
little houses, in each a fire, there we left some peeces of cop- 
per, beads, bells, and looking glasses, and then went into the 



18 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

bay, Inn when it was darke we came back agine. Early in 
the morning foure Salvages came to us in their Canow, whom 
wo used with such courtesies, not knowing what we were, 
nor had done, having been in the bay a-fishing, bade us stay 
and ere long they would returne, which they did and some 
twentie inure with them; with whom after little conference, 
two or three thousand men, women & children came cluster- 
ing about us, every one presenting us with something, which 
a little bead would so well requite, that we became such 
friends they would contend who should fetch us water, stay 
with us for hostage, conduct our men any whither, and give 
us the best content. Here doth inhabite the people of Sara- 
pinagh, Xause, Arseek, and Xantaquak the best Merchants 
of all other Salvages. They much extolled a great nation 
called Massawomekes, in search of whom we returned by 
Limbo; this river but onely at the entrance is very narrow, 
and the people of small stature as them of Wightcocomoco, 
the Land but low, yet it may prove very commodious, because 
it is but a ridge of land betwixt the Bay and the maine 
Ocean. Finding this Easterne Shore, shallow broken Isles, 
and for most part without fresh water, we passed by the 
straites of Limbo for the Western shore; so broad is the bay 
here, we could scarce perceive the great high cliffs on the 
other side: by them we anchored that night and called them 
Riccards Cliftes ; 30 leagues we sayled more Northwards 
no1 finding any inhabitants leaving all the Easterne Shore, 
lowe Islandes, but overgrowne with wood, as all the coast 
beyond them so farre as we could see." 1 

From the foregoing account it will be seen that Smith 
and his companions cruised along the western shore of the 
Accomack peninsula, which is the Eastern Shore of Chesa- 
peake Bay, until they reached what is now called Pocomoke 
River, near the present boundary between Virginia and 
Maryland. The distance is between seventy and eighty miles. 
The reason Smith assigns for the long cruise was the need of 

ill's History of Virginia. 



EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 19 

fresh water, but to those who know the abundant springs of 
Accomac and Northampton, this statement is surprising. 

Overtaken in the neighborhood of Pocomoke by one of 
those summer thunder-storms, which are so prevalent about 
the Capes, and which are so terrifying in their suddenness, 
Smith's boat was blown across the Chesapeake. This squall 
caused his companions to lose courage, and to beg to be taken 
back to Jamestown. Nothing daunted by the tempestuous- 
ness of the elements, our brave Captain deemed it wise to 
address his men as follows: 

"Gentlemen, if you would remember the memorable his- 
tory of Sir Ralph Layne, how his company importuned him 
to proceed in the discovery of Moratico, alleadging that they 
had yet a dog, that being boyled with Sazafras leaves, would 
richly feede them in their returnes ; then what a shame it 
would be for you (that have bin so suspitious of my tender- 
nesse) to force me returne, with so much provision as we 
have, and scarce able to say where we have beene, nor yet 
heard of that we were sent to seeke ? You can not say but I 
have shared with you in the worst which has past ; and for 
what is to come, of lodging, dyet, or whatsoever, I am con- 
tended you allott the worst part to myself e. As for your 
feares that I will lose my selfe in these unknown large 
waters, or be swallowed up in some stormie gust; abandon 
these childish feares, for worse than is past is not likely to 
happen ; and there is as much danger to returne as to pro- 
ceede. Regaine therefore your old spirits for returne I will 
not (if God Please) till I have seen the Massawomeka, 
found Patawomek, or the head of this water you conceiv 
to be endless." 

Smith's determination, coupled with prospects of fairer 
weather, overcame the fears of his crew. The bay was fur- 
ther explored, the Potomac discovered, and then and not 
until then was he satisfied to return. On their voyage back, 



20 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

cnii ling w hat is now called Hampton Roads, and passing by 
the low sand-spit, where the ramparts of Fortress Monroe 
now frown and the gay summer resorts are built, they stop- 
ped at the Indian Village, Kickotan, located upon the pres- 
ent site of Hampton. Obtaining there a goodly supply of 
food from the Indians, they returned to Jamestown settle- 
ment, about forty miles up the river, then called Powhatan, 
now known as the James. "In this, as in all things, the 
Englishman appropriated what belonged to the Indians, and 
King James supplanted King Powhatan." 1 

It was on this return voyage that Smith, while practicing 
the art acquired from Kicktopeake, the Accomac King, im- 
paled a fish upon his sword, in the shallow waters about the 
mouth of the Rappahannock River. Unaware of the danger- 
ous character of his captive, he received in his wrist a very 
painful wound from the spike-like fin upon the tail of the 
fish. This wound caused much soreness and such swelling 
that he thought he was like to die, and his whole party going 
ashore, laid Smith under a tree where he made his will. 
"But," says he, "by night-time the swelling and soreness had 
so assuaged that I had the pleasure of eating that fish for 
supper." The next morning the journey was resumed, and 
the place where the accident occurred, in remembrance of the 
incident, was named Stingray Point. To this day, that point 
at the mouth of the Rappahannock River is called Stingaree 
Point, and that fish is still called Stingaree by the people 
along Chesapeake Bay. 

After this famous cruise, John Smith made his excellent 
map of Virginia, showing the Capes and Islands, the points 
and rivers, which he visited. In this map the Kingdom of 
Accawmake occupies a most conspicuous place. 

^End of An Era, Jno. S. Wise. 



Ill 

Argoli/s Visit and Dale's Gift 

Bearing in mind the stories brought back from the coast by 
Smith and his men, Sir Samuel Argoll, in 1613, determined 
to visit the Kingdom of Accawmack for the purpose of secur- 
ing supplies of fish for the starving colonists along the James 
River. The following is his own description of the trip : 

"I departed out of the River in my shallop, the first of 
May, for to discover the East side of our Bay, which I found 
to have many small Rivers in it, and very good harbours for 
Boats and Barges, but not for ships of any great burthen; 
and also great store of Inhabitants, who seemed very desir- 
ous of our love, and so much the rather, because they had 
received good reports from the Indians of Pembrock River, 
of our curteous usage of them, whom I found trading with 
me for come, whereof they had great store. We also dis- 
covered a multitude of Islands bearing good meadow ground^ 
and as I think, Salt might easily be made there, if there were 
any ponds digged, for that I found Salt Kerned where the 
water had overilowne in certain places. Here is also a great 
store of fish, both shel-fish and other. So having discovered 
along the shore fortie leagues Northward, I returned, etc." 1 

From this description of the islands and their meadows, it 
is quite certain that Argoll landed upon Smith's Island, upon 
the Eastern beach of which the Atlantic hurls her lines of 
foaming breakers with appalling fury. At no place along 
the coast would the waters be more briny, or less polluted by 

^Extract from a letter written by Sir Samuel Argoll to Master Hawes 
in June, 1613. Purchas IV, pp. 1764-65. 

21 



22 EASTERN SHORE OF VIR< : I X I A II I STORY 

the drift of the inner waterways. In view of the scarcity of 
provisions in the settlements of the western shore, it was a nat- 
ural consequence of Argoll's discovery, that, in June, 1614, 
John Porv, Secretary of the Colony, should send Lieutenant 
Craddock, with about twenty men, to Smith's Island to boil 
the sea water down to salt and catch fish for the people of the 
James River. 1 Two years later, Rolfe wrote that at Dale's 
Gift near Cape Charles, there were seventeen men under 
Lieutenant Craddock. 2 This statement of Rolfe's has led 
many to believe that the salt colony was not established until 
1616. Much confusion also seems to exist as to whether 
this little settlement was located on the mainland or on 
Smith's Island. The truth of the matter is that the salt 
house or works, as they are frequently styled, were erected 
on the Island, and details of men were sent over from the 
settlement on the mainland to carry on the work. The set- 
tlement on the mainland was planted on the banks of what 
is now called Old Plantation Creek, which flows into the bay 
about nine miles north of the point of Cape Charles. So im- 
portant was the work considered, that the detachment of men 
at Dale's gift was supported at the expense of the Company. 
To what extent the Governor contributed to the erection of 
the works is not known, but in the minutes of the Quarter 
Court, held February, 1619-20, we find the following sig- 
nificant passage: 

"Whereas, during the time of Sir Thomas Dale's residence 
in Virginia there was by his means sundry salt works set up, 
to the great good and benefit of the plantation, since which 
time they are wholly gone to rack and let fall, insomuch that 
by defect thereof the inhabitants are exceedingly distempered 
by eating pork and other meats fresh and unseasoned ; there- 

^he First Republic in America, Brown, p. 227. 
2 Rolfe's Relation, in Neill's Va. Co. of London, p. 111. 



EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 23 

fore it was referred to a committee to consider with all speed 
for the setting np again of said salt works, that is to Sir John 
Dauers, Sir Nathaniel Rich, Mr. John Wroth, Mr. Dr. Win- 
stone, and Mr. Samuel Wrote, to meet at two of the clock at 
Mr. Treasurer's house, Mr. Baldwin is desired at the same 
time to be there to further the committee with his best ser- 
vice." 1 

Whether or not the Governor contributed more than his au- 
thority to the support of this enterprise when it was founded, 
the settlement was named in his honor, Dale's Gift. 

When Sir Thomas Dale left the colony in 1616, there were 
but three hundred and fifty settlers or heads of families, and 
the only settlements were those at Henrico, Bermuda, West 
and Shirley Hundred, Jamestown, Kiquotan and the one at 
Cape Charles ; so we see that Dale's Gift was one of the old- 
est settlements in the Colony. 

We may well imagine that the task assigned the first salt 
boilers was far from being a grateful one to the little band. 
Their residence on the far-away peninsula was looked for- 
ward to, no doubt, as the equivalent of exile or solitary con- 
finement in a dangerous locality. At Jamestown, the set- 
tlers were located upon an island. This fact and their num- 
bers gave them comparative security from the savages. On 
the peninsula, however, the new plantation or post was located 
on the shore of a great sea, with trackless, unexplored forests, 
to the north and east. So few were the men assigned to this 
remote post, that their situation would indeed have been a 
perilous one in case of attack, separated from their friends 
as they were, by the great Chesapeake. It was therefore, 
doubtless, in the spirit of satire that the party named the 
place at which they first located upon the Eastern Shore, 

Virginia Company, Va. Hist. Collect., Vol. Ill, p. 47. 



24 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

Dale's Gift. 1 At any rate, such was the humble beginning 
of that portion of the colony of Virginia, the character of 
which has been greatly influenced by the peculiar isolation 
of its territory ; such was the inception of a mission destined 
to Anglicize the Kingdom of Accawmacke, "the land of the 
Myrtle and the Pine." 2 

For the evaporation of the salt water, the men sent to 
Smith's Island, in 1614, appear to have relied at the outset 3 
principally on the heat of the sun. Until Argoll assumed 
the administration of affairs, the people obtained their sup- 
plies of salt from this source ; 4 but in the common wreck pre- 
cipitated by his government, the little band of salt boilers 
were dispersed and their crude appliances fell into decay. 5 
This led to much suffering, as the settlers were forced to eat 
their pork and other meats in a fresh state. The distempers 
resulting from such a practise were so severe that action was 
taken, as we have seen, with a view to reestablish the works, 
which was done in 1620, and the following year, Miles 
Pirket, a man skilled in salt making, was sent to Virginia to 
manage the works. 6 The object which the Company had in 
view was not only to furnish the people of the Colony with 
the necessary supply of salt, but in time to produce so great 
a quantity that all the fisheries on the American coast might 
be supplied with the article at a handsome profit to the 
Company. 7 In 1621, John Pory was instructed by Gover- 
nor Yeardley to visit the Eastern Shore and select a spot 

'End of An Era, Wise. 

2 The phrase of Henry A. Wise; see Seven Decades of The Union. 
3 For following facts as to salt making on the peninsula, see Bruce's 
Economic History of Va. in 17th Cent. 
4 Neill's Va. Co. of London, p. 180. 

6 Abstracts of Proceedings of Va. Co. of London, Vol. I, p. 55. 
•Company's Letter, Sept. 11, 1621; Neill's Va. Co. of London, p. 249. 
'Abstracts of Pro. of Va. Co. of London, Vol. I, p. 68. 



EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 25 

combining the most conveniences for the new works, 1 what 
remained of the works on Smith's Island being soon moved 
by Pory. The supervision of the erection of the salt plant 
was assigned to Maurice Berkeley, whose principal subordi- 
nate was Miles Pirket and whose second assistant was also a 
trained salt-boiler. 2 In a subsequent chapter, we shall fol- 
low the course of salt-making on the peninsula. 3 Enough has 
been said to show that the need of salt brought about the set- 
tlement of "Dale's Gift" and the Eastern Shore, plantations 
so isolated and remote from the other settlements that the 
Kings of England for many years addressed their decrees to 
the people of Virginia, "To our faithful subjects in ye 
Colonie of Virginia and ye Kingdome of Accawmacke." 

Like many another venture undertaken reluctantly and in 
ignorance, this settlement upon the remote peninsula proved 
to be anything but an irksome and dangerous undertaking. 
The party of Dale's Gift found the Accawmacke Indians, 
though speaking the language of the Powhatans, in other 
respects totally unlike their war-like and treacherous con- 
federates across the bay, and from that time forth there 
never was, not even at the time of the general outbreak of 
the Savages, in 1622 and 1644, any serious trouble between 
the whites and the Accawmacke Indians. The climate was 
also much more salubrious than that of the swampy regions 
along the James River, where the brackish water and stag- 
nant ponds bred malaria and other fatal diseases. As for 
sustenance, they found the place an earthly paradise. In the 
light and sandy soil, corn, vegetables, and many varieties of 

'Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 567. 

2 Letter of Governor and Council to Company, January, 1621-22; 
Xeill's Virginia Company of London, p. 283. Pirket is sometimes 
referred to as Pickett, sometimes as Prickett. 

3 See chapter on Trade, Commerce, etc. 



26 EASTERN" SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

fniit grew in abundance at the cost of but slight labor. Fish 
and shell-fish of every description abounded in the ocean, 
bays and inlets, as they do to-day. Wild fowls of many 
sorts, from the lordly wild goose to the tiny teal, swarmed in 
the marshes along the coast. Game in great abundance, 
furred and feathered, could be had for the shooting of it 
upon the land. The fig and the pomegranate throve upon 
this generous soil. The influence of the Gulf Stream, which, 
in passing the Virginia Capes, approaches within thirty 
miles of the coast, and then turns abruptly eastward, made, 
as it still makes, residence upon the Eastern Shore of Vir- 
ginia most charming and delightful. The exiles of the salt 
works, pitied at first, soon became the epicures of the colony 
and aroused, by their very failure to complain, the curiosity 
of the James River settlers. 1 Upon investigation, the latter 
found no cause for further pity; the conditions surrounding 
the exiles were far from lamentable ! 

'End of An Era, J. S. Wise. 



IV 
The Plantation of Accomack 

There is a tradition that a number of the early settlers of 
Virginia crossed the Chesapeake in a canoe in 1610 and 
landed on the Eastern Shore. We are told that these first 
comers intermarried with the Nassawattox Indians and were 
found living among them in a state of semi-civilization and 
savagery when Dale's Gift was first established in 1614. 1 If 
this tradition be founded upon fact, it is strange that no 
reference was made to the matter by the discursive John 
Smith in his history, nor by Argoll nor Pory, who both 
visited the peninsula and wrote of their adventures among, 
and their observations upon, the Indians. It is most im- 
probable that Englishmen could have been dwelling among 
the Indians without these writers knowing it. Yet we should 
not dismiss the tradition without according it reasonable 
weight. 

At a Court held, in 1635, in Accomac County, it was re- 
corded, "Forasmuch as Henry William did make it appear 
that he had lived on his land twenty years, and did much 
service for the country, it was certified to the Governor and 
Council, etc." 2 At a Court held in 1643 in the same County, 
there was recorded "a deed for land granted by Sir John 
Harvey on February 20, 1639, to Henry Williams because 
he was an ancient planter in the time of Sir Thomas Dale 

'See an article on Early Episcopacy in Accomack, Va. Mag. of History 
and Biography, Vol. V, p. 128. 

2 See Northampton County Records, Vol. I; Brown's First Republic, 
p. 421. 

27 



28 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

as evidenced by a grant to him from the Treasurer and Com- 
pany in 1618." Williams came to Virginia on the "Treas- 
urer" in 1615, and may have settled at Dale's Gift that year, 
but, says Dr. Brown, it is doubtful whether he resided on 
the Eastern Shore for twenty consecutive years, for in 1625 
he was living on his land in the corporation of Charles City. 1 
Williams can not, therefore, be called the first settler. 

It is a remarkable fact that Thomas Savage, said by many 
authorities to be the first permanent white settler on the 
Eastern Shore of Virginia, 2 is the only one of those advent- 
urous spirits who came to Virginia in 1607 with Smith, 
whose descendants can be authentically traced to the present 
generation. Thus the Savages, many of whom live in Acco- 
mac and Northampton to-day, represent the oldest American 
family in the United States. 

Thomas, afterwards Ensign Thomas Savage, came to Vir- 
ginia with the first settlers when but thirteen years old, and 
in 1608 was given to Powhatan by Captain Newport in ex- 
change for Namotacke, an Indian. 3 He remained for some 
years with the Powhatans and learned their language, so that 
he was able to render the Colony much service as an inter- 
preter. 

John Pory tells us how Savage, "with much honestie and 
successe served the publique, without any publique recom- 
pense, yet had an arrow shot through his body in their ser- 
vice." On one occasion, when at Opechancanough's town 
for the purpose of securing a captive — Thomas Graves — some 
difficulty arising, Savage and three others offered to fight 
thirteen of the Indians at once, but the Indians declined the 

'First Republic in America, Brown p. 421. 
2 First Republic in America, Brown p. 421. 

s See Smith's History of Va. ; Cradle of the Republic, L. G. Tyler, p. 
•254. 



EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 29 

invitation. Powhatan loved the little white man, which no 
doubt aroused Opechancanough's jealousy. This, coupled 
with the unfortunate incident narrated, probably caused Sav- 
age to leave Powhatan and move to the Eastern Shore, where 
Debedeavon, the Laughing King, gave him, in 1619, a large 
tract of land lying between Cheriton Creek and King's Creek, 
known as Savage's Neck. 1 

It is possible that Savage may have been living among the 
Indians of the Eastern Shore before 1619, for when Captain 
John Martin visited them in April, 1619, he found him well 
established in their councils. Captain Martin says that being 
somewhat cut off from the main, "necessity had made the 
natives of the Eastern Shore more industrious than any other 
Indians in our bay." He also said that "the trade with the 
Indians was discovered not long before Sir George Yeardley 
came in by my Aunchient (Ensign) Thomas Savage and ser- 
vants, when they saw at one time forty of their great canowes 
laden with their commodities, and obtained a sufficient quan- 
tity of corn to relieve the Colonists," who were then in want, 
owing to the failure of the crops the previous year on the 
Western Shore. So we see that at a very early date the set- 
tlers along James River had learned the value of the remote 
peninsula as a source of food supply. 2 

When John Pory visited the Eastern Shore in 1621, he 
found young Savage dwelling happily among the Indians and 
thoroughly ingratiated in the good-will of the Laughing King, 
and of his Prime Minister and brother, Kictopeake. Han- 
nah Tyng, Savage's wife, came to Virginia in 1621 in the 
good ship "Sea Flower," with Captain Hamor, and the rec- 
ords show that on December 1, 1627, she was granted fifty 

ir rhe First Republic in America, Brown, p. 421. 
2 The First Republic in America, Brown, p. 288. 



30 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

acres of land in the Plantation of Accomack, by way of 
dividend for having defrayed the expenses of her own trans- 
portation. This grant is described as a small neck of land 
abutting northward on the main river (Cheriton Creek), 
eastward on the creek, called Long Creek, and westward on 
Curtaile Creek, dividing the same from the land of Clement 
Dilke. Thomas Savage died in 1627 and left an only son, 
Captain John Savage, of "Savage's Neck," born 1624; Bur- 
gess for Northampton, 1666-1667. Hannah, the widow of 
Thomas, married Daniel Cugley. Captain John Savage mar- 
ried first, Ann Elkington ; second, Mary, daughter of Colonel 
Obedience Robins of "Cherrytone." 1 Thomas Savage being 
the first settler, this much of his history is not thought to be 
out of place. 

Among the old records of the Virginia Company for the 
year 1620, we find the following item in reference to "The 
Allowance of John Pory, Secretary:" — 

"Itt was agreed and confirmed att this Court that Mr. 
Pory the Secretary and his successors in that place should 
have five hundred acres of land belonging to that Office, and 
twenty Tenants to be planted, thereupon, whereof Tenn to be 
sent this year and Tenn the next yeare and the Secty. then 
from henceforward should receive no fees for himself, etc." 2 

John Pory, who seems to have been much interested in 
and attracted by the Eastern Shore, at once laid out his lands 
along King's Creek, and sent over his first ten tenants in 
1620, the year of the grant. 3 

'See Va. Mag. of History and Biography, Vol. I, pp. 443-44. Cheri- 
ton, the original Indian name, was corrupted to Cherrytone and is now 
called Cherrystone. 

"Records of Va. Company, Vol. I, 1619-1622, p. 241). 
"First Republic in America, Brown. 



EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 31 

The following year he sent over his other ten tenants and 
Captain John Willcox also planted near the Secretary's set- 
tlement with a small number of men. 1 The site of the Sec- 
retary's settlement was upon the farm now known as "Town 
Fields," which lies between Cheriton or Cherry tone and 
King's Creeks, divided by the latter creek from the present 
town of Cape Charles City, about 14 miles north of the Cape 
or extremity of the peninsula. This settlement was called by 
its first tenants, "The Plantation of Accomack," and for 
many years the town went by that name, as a result of which 
much confusion has arisen, since the writers of the time in 
referring to the Eastern Shore at large, even after the penin- 
sula was named Northampton County, had in mind the 
single village of the peninsula or the town of Accomack. 

Dale's Gift, on account of being the older settlement of the 
two, was from now on referred to as the old plantation, and 
hence the name "Old Plantation Creek," upon the shores of 
which the first settlement was located. 

The new town prospered at the expense of the old planta- 
tion, and seems to have absorbed its inhabitants in the course 
of a few years, although persons still resided in the older 
quarter. 

During the same year the generous King Debedeavon gave 
to the Governor, Sir George Yeardley, all the land between 
Hungar's Creek and Cheriton Creek. 

At a Court held, in 1668, in Northampton County: 

"About Esquire Yardley's and John Savage's Land — The 
deposition of Win. Jones, aged 59, Sayeth, That being at the 
house of the late Col. Robins about thirty-five years since 
(when Laughing King came annually to visit him in the 
Spring) was desired by Col. Eobin's to ask the said King, 

*First Republic in America, Brown. 



32 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

whose land such a neck of land was ? He replied, that he had 
given that neck of land from Wissaponson Creek to Hungar's 
Creek to Sir George Yardley, and the south side of Wissa- 
ponson to his son Thomas Newport (that is, Thomas 
Savage)." 1 

In 1621, when Pory's party visited the Laughing King, 
the old chief described the Eastern Shore to the English, 
telling them of the abundance of fish and fowl, and gave 
Lieutenant Marmaduke Perkinson some of the earth called 
terra lemnia (there to be had in great abundance), which was 
said by Perkinson to be as good as that of Turkey. 2 Pory 
returned to Jamestown, leaving a hundred men happily set- 
tled, through whom he hoped that a flourishing fur trade 
would soon spring up. 3 But the charms of the country drew 
the settlers away from the little settlement and they spread 
along the creeks and bays to the north and east, scattering 
their homes and clearings over a wide area. Elbow room was 
their cry, and since there was nothing to be feared at the 
hands of the Accawmacke Indians, there was no reason so 
far as they could see why, simply to please the authorities, 
they should remain huddled together on the banks of Old 
Plantation Creek. By the end of the year 1621, there re- 
mained but nine men at the old settlement, and there was no 
guarantee that they too would not soon desert. John Pory, 
the god-father of the little Colony, in great alarm, petitioned 
the Governor and the Council of State for aid, both men and 
means, to help maintain the plantation of Accomack, for, as 
a result of removals, desertions and deaths, and the great 
tendency of his settlers to scatter over the peninsula, there 

J First Republic in America, Brown, p. 421. 
2 First Republic in America, Brown, pp. 461-462. 

3 Ibid. p. 420. Va. Col. Records, 1621-23. Va. Mag. of History and 
Biography, Vol. XV, p. 34. 



EASTEEN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 33 

were but few tenants left and he feared lest they might be 
destroyed by the Indians. 1 Owning lands there himself, Sir 
George, the Governor, was not disinterested in the plantation, 
and very unselfishly took care of the petition; as a result of 
which, "certain fees were allowed for the employment and 
maintenance of tenants at Accowmack." Thus the little Col- 
ony became one of the plantations of the Virginia Com- 
pany. 2 

In June, 1622, the good Sir George himself, accompanied 
by his council and "a number of the greatest gallants in the 
land," went to Accomack to inspect the settlement and inci- 
dentally his own properties. So pleased was he with what 
he found that he spent six weeks on the peninsula, bringing 
home with him some corn, but says Smith, "as he adventured 
for himself, he accordingly enjoyed the benefit." 3 From 
this it would seem that the trip was in the nature of a semi- 
official excursion. From then on, all was prosperity. We 
may be sure that the less fortunate settlers at Jamestown, 
Smithfield, Flower de Hundred and the Falls of the James, 
were not long in finding out the delights of this at first 
despised settlement on the Eastern Shore. Indeed in 1622, 
the most trying year to the early colonists, beset with Indian 
tomahawks, starvation and disease, the forlorn and desperate 
settlers on the western shore looked with longing eyes upon 
the peace and plenty enjoyed by their brothers, the exiles of 
Accomack. 

All through this period of early settlement, the pioneer 
days of the Eastern Shore, the Indians there remained the 
staunch friends of the whites. They shared with the in- 
truder their stores of corn and gave freely of their rich 

J Ya. Colonial Records, 1621-23. 
"Neill's Va. Co. of London, p. 282. 
3 Smith's General History. 



3-t EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

lands to the white brother from across the sea. Young 
Savage had won the heart of the old King, who through his 
great love for the youth grew to love all of his kind, and 
persistently refused to combine with his confederates, the 
Powhatans, to work their destruction. Such a task would 
have been an easy one, and in view of its very simplicity, all 
the more credit is due Debedeavon. In 1621, the old war- 
rior, alarmed at the perilous position of his white friends, 
informed Governor Yeardley, through Savage and Colonel 
Robins, both of whom he was accustomed to visit at their 
homes, that many Indians had assembled at the ceremony 
of the taking up of Powhatan's bones, and that Opechanca- 
nough had plotted with them for a general uprising and 
massacre of the whites, both on the western and eastern 
shores. At first the Governor was highly incredulous, but 
being further warned by Savage and Robins, that the Laugh- 
ing King knew whereof he spoke and that his undoubted 
affection for them precluded any motive but that of friend- 
ship in reporting the designs of Opechancanough, by which 
action he compromised himself, the Governor became greatly 
alarmed. Thereupon Yeardley himself went in person to 
every plantation in the colony, held musters, provided what 
arms the general stores afforded, and commanded that strict 
ward and watch be kept. 1 When charged by the Governor 
with the foul design of massacring the English, Opechanca- 
nough stoutly denied any such intent, and as time wore on 
and no overt act occurred to confirm the rumor, the colonists 
relaxed their vigilance. The warning, however, and the 
prompt steps taken to put the various plantations in a state 
of defense, did much to prevent the complete annihilation of 
the colony the following year ; for just as Debedeavon re- 

1 First Republic in America, Brown, p. 465. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 35 

ported they would do, the savages rose en masse and fell 
upon the whites on the western shore. Ushered in by the 
blood-chilling war-cry of the frenzied savages, for days a 
reign of terror continued when the torch and the bloody 
scalp knives did their horrid work. Few indeed were the 
frontier homes unvisited by the murderous red men. But 
upon the Eastern Shore the colonists rested secure under the 
protecting arm of their native ruler. Not only Eastern 
Shoremen, but all Virginians, should ever revere the memory 
of the "Laughing Kiug of Accowmacke" whose timely warn- 
ing and unselfish friendship during the dark days of 1622 
saved the whites from a more awful fate. 

Coincident with this period of massacre was the spreading 
of a "foull distemper" among the people of the western shore, 
the germs of the disease having been imported with the fresh 
supplies of immigrants. The mortality resulting from this 
epidemic, which spread with astonishing rapidity through 
the plantations, was appalling. Five hundred persons, or 
about half of the inhabitants of the colony, died in a short 
period of time, and so panic stricken became many of the 
survivors that the proposition to desert the rivers and their 
sickly swamps for the Eastern Shore met with much favor. 1 
At any rate, a commission was issued to Sir George Yeardley 
on June 20th, 1622, to visit the peninsula and make a 
thorough survey of the country with such a step in view and 
no such action would have been taken unless the step were 
at least contemplated, in spite of the fact that the Treasurer 
of the Colony, George Sandys, denied any intent of the 
authorities to make such a move. 2 Be that as it may, the 

Virginia Vetusta, Neill, pp. 122-127. Letter of Governor and Coun- 
cil of Va. to London Co., Jan. 20, 1623. Neill's Va. Co. of London, 
p. 367. Bruce's Economic History of Va. in 17th Cent., Vol. I, pp. 
272-273. 

2 Va. Colonial Records, 1622-23; Va. Mag. Hist. & Bio., Vol. XVI, p. 6. 



36 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

many advantages offered to the distressed settlers along the 
fetid banks of the James by the healthful peninsula, the 
fertility of its soil, its delightful breeze-tempered climate, 
the friendship of the savages, all together, comprised an in- 
ducement strong enough to justify a general migration to its 
shores. 1 

Although an official removal of the colonists along the 
James River did not occur, many people of their own accord 
moved to the peninsula about this time, among whom was 
Lady Elizabeth Dale, widow of Sir Thomas Dale, who left 
lands on the Eastern Shore. 2 

The muster of Lady Dale's plantation on the Western 
Shore, just prior to the massacre of 1622, shows twenty 
persons, eight of whom were boys. There was very little 
ammunition and but six match-locks on the place. This must 
have been the condition of many of the plantations at the 
time of the threatened massacre and small wonder it is that 
many of the defenseless people should have deserted their 
homes and sailed across the bay to the kingdom of Accaw- 
macke. Whatever the cause, people were beginning to flock 
to the peninsula, as evidenced by the following list made out 
February 16th, 1623 : 3 

'Brown's First Republic in Am. Neill's Va. Company. 
2 Neill's Va. Company of London, p. 368. Brown's Genesis of U. S., 
pp. 452-453-454. For interesting papers relating to Dale, see Appendix. 
3 Colonial Records of Va. Senate Document (Extra), 1874. 



EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 37 



'LISTS OF THE LIVINGE & DEAD IN VIRGINIA 
AT THE EASTERN SHORE 



Capt. Wm. Epps 
Mrs. Epps 
Peter Epps 
William 
Edmund Cloake 
William Bribby 
Thomas Cornish 
John Fisher 
William Dry 
Henry Wilson 
Peter Porter 
Christopher Carter 
John Simnill (Sumsill) 
Nicholas Graunger 
James Vocat Piper 
Edward 
John 
Thomas 
George 

Charles Farmer 
James Knott 
John Ascomb 
Peregree Wattkins 
Daniell Watkins 
John Blower 
Goody Blower 
John 

A boy of Mr. Cans 
John How 
John Butterfield 
*AVilliam Davies 
Peter Longman 
John Wilkins 
Thomas Powell 
William Beane 
John Washborne 

William 



Robert Fennell 
Phillips 
Daniel Cugley 
Thomas Graves 
John Wilcocks 
Thomas Crampe 
William Andrews 
William Coomes 
John Parsons 
John Coomes 
James Chambers 
Robert Ball 
Thomas Hall 
ismale Hills 
John Tyers 
Walter Scott 
Goodwife Scott 
Robert Edmonds 
Thomas Hitchcocke 
John Evans 
Henry Wattkins 
Thomas Parke 
William Smith 
Edward Drew 
Nicholas Hoskins 
And his child 
William Williams 
Mrs. Williams 
John Throgmorton 
Bennanine Knight 
Chad Gunston 
Abram Analin 
Thomas Blacklocke 
John Barnett 
Thomas Savage 
Salomon Greene 
Quills ,, 



38 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

This list shows a total of nearly eighty settlers on the 
Eastern Shore in 1G23. Of those named, many must have 
been dead or have wandered off to the northern confines of 
the unexplored peninsula very soon after the muster, for the 
census of 1624-5 gives "The Eastern Shore over the Baye" 
a total of but fifty-one souls. The latter is very probable, 
for the untrampled forests to the north must have been most 
inviting to the more adventurous spirits. What treasures 
of fur, skins, game and fish must they have found, awaiting 
the coming of the white man ! An examination of the names 
included in the census of 1624-5 will show that a majority 
of those listed came from across the bay and that they did 
not emigrate direct to the peninsula from the Old World. 1 
This census shows that there were on the Eastern Shore at 
that time : 

"44 males. 
1 females. 
19 houses. 

16 storehouses, sheds, etc. 
1 fort. 
22iy 2 lbs. corn. 

5 boats including 1 shallop. 
150^ lbs. powder. 
601 lbs. lead and shot. 

30 pieces-fixt. (match-locks). 
1 pistoll. 

3 swords. 

23 complete armors. 

4 coats of mail and head pieces." 

In the census given by Brown as of 1625, the above items 
vary slightly and two hogs are included. The population is 
reported at the same total figure, but thirty-two free inhabit- 
ants, seventeen servants, and two children are specified. 2 

'Hotten's Immigrants, p. 262. 

'First Republic in America, Brown, p. 625. 



EASTERN" SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 39 

It is very likely, as has been said, that this census ap- 
plied only to the settlements and their immediate vicinity, 
and that there were houses as well as people in the upper 
parts of the peninsula. At this time there were but 1,209 
colonists in Virginia, 269 of whom were women. 

The small settlement on the Eastern Shore comprised "St. 
George's Hundred," of which Captain William Epps was the 
Commander. St. George's seems to have been the only 
"Hundred" on the peninsula. 1 It was from this designa- 
tion that St. George's Parish in Accomac later took its name. 

Captain Epps, no doubt, fought in the first duel between 
Englishmen in America, for about 1619 he killed Captain 
Stallinge in a private quarrel. In 1633, he moved to Mary- 
land, to which quarter there was a general movement at the 
time. 2 

Of the list of the inhabitants of 1624, there are but 
twenty-two of the names represented on the Eastern Shore 
to-day. These are: Rodgers, Knight, Wilson, Andrews, 
Parsons, Hall, Scott, Williams, Edmunds, Evans, Powell, 
Parks, Watkins, Davis, Wilkins, Smith, Barrett, Savage, 
Fisher, Piper, Parramore, and Gascoyne. 3 Many of these 
names are quite common at the present time. 

The first representatives of Accomack in the Assembly 
were Captain John Wilcocks and Henry Watkins, both of 
whom signed a paper as Burgesses from the Eastern Shore 
in 1624. 4 The plantation, as such, did not exist in 1619, 

Northampton County Records, Orders July 28, 1645. 

2 There is among the Accomac Records (Northampton Court House) 
a power of attn'y from Wm. Epps of the Island of St. Christopher, to 
William Stone, in regard to Epps' property on the Eastern Shore of Va. 
It is dated, July 18, 1633, and Epps' name is spelt Epes. 

3 See Census referred to in Brown's First Rep. in Am. 

♦Hening I, pp. 121-9; First Rep. in Am., p. 580; Va. Mag. of Hist, 
and Bio., Vol. VII, p. 189. 



40 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

when the first Assembly was held. Up to the year 1626, the 
only patents of land issued, was one to John Blower for 140 
acres, the tract known as Savage's Neck, to "Ensign Thomas 
Savage," called his "Divident" ; and one for 3,700 acres 
along Hungar's Creek, or Wissaponson Creek, as it was then 
known, by order of the Court at James City, to the Governor, 
Sir George Yeardley. "Certain others have planted there 
(on Eastern Shore) but no Pattents have been graunted 
them, the Companyes and Secretary es Tennants were alsoe 
there seated, but no land ordered, to bee laid out for them, 
as in the 4 Corporacons." 1 

From 1626 on, land patents were issued in great numbers. 2 
Many of those then living on the peninsula received grants 
of land and many new settlers began to arrive. Small tracts 
of the Secretary's land were leased for short terms, several 
of the first lessees being Nicholas Hoskins, yeoman, 20 acres, 
Feb. 1st, 1626; Clement Dilke, Gent., 20 acres, Feb. 6th, 
1626; John How, Gent., 30 acres, Sept. 20th, 1628; Wil- 
liam Smith, planter, 100 acres, Oct. 15th, 1629. Most of 
the leases were for a period of ten years. Some of the first 
patents were: Captain Thomas Graves, Ancient Planter, 
March 14th, 1628, 200 acres ; William Andrews, planter, and 
Roger Saunders, mariner, 100 and 50 acres respectively, in 
March, 1628. In 1632 John Neale received a grant and 
Thomas Savage, carpenter, was granted 100 acres. 3 

By this time, people had begun to flock to the Eastern 
Shore and take up the rich land there. The more independ- 
ent pushed far up the peninsula and settled along the many 
creeks and bays, both on the sea-side and bay-side of the 
peninsula. So numerous had the inhabitants become by 1629 

'Hotten's Immigrants, Patents Granted up to 1626, p. 274. 
2 See Abstracts from Va. Land Patents in Appendix. 
There were two Thomas Savages then on the peninsula. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 41 

that regular representatives were sent to the Assembly from 
that time on. In the Assembly of 1629, "For the Easterne 
Shoare noe burgesses did appear," 1 but in the Assembly of 
1629-30, Accomac was represented by Captain Thomas 
Graves, Captain Edmund Scarburgh, Obedience Robins and 
Henry Bagwell. 2 The Assembly of 1631-2 (in which Acco- 
mac was represented by Captain Scarburgh and John Howe 3 ) 
enacted a law, restricting intercourse between the people and 
the Indians, and imposing a penalty of one month of service 
upon any free man and twenty stripes upon any servant who 
should break the law. The "Easterne Shoare," however, was 
excepted from the scope of this rigid statute, but the com- 
manders of the settlements in Accomac were cautioned to be 
friendly with the natives, yet on their guard. 4 This is but 
additional evidence of the amicable relation which existed 
between the Indians of the peninsula and the whites. 

Great inconvenience was now experienced by the people 
of the Eastern Shore by reason of their having no court. It 
was necessary for them to go to James City or Elizabeth 
City, a monthly court having been established at the latter 
place in 1624, whenever they desired to seek redress at the 
hands of the law. As a result of such a condition, poor per- 
sons found themselves without redress in many cases, and 
their inability to defend themselves being known, they were 
frequently imposed upon by their stronger brothers. The 
need of local adjudication in small matters, wherein the 
parties could ill afford to repair to the courts across the bay, 
grew with the increasing population, and in 1632 a Monthly 
Court was established in Accomack. 5 

Weiring, I, pp. 137-9. 

2 Hening, I, pp. 147-9. 
'Hening, I, p. 153. 
4 Hening, I, p. 167. 
5 Hening, I, p. 168. 



42 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

The Court consisted of a presiding officer, styled at first 
the Commander of Acchawmacke, and six Commissioners, 
who were his coadjutors. In the absence of the Commander, 
one of the Commissioners presided. Obedience Robins was 
the first Commander. He was succeeded after several years 
by William Roper and he by Nathaniel Littleton. At later 
periods, Robins served two other terms as Commander. The 
first Commissioners were Captain William Clayborne, Cap- 
tain Thomas Graves, John Howe, Gent., Captain Edmund 
Scarburgh, Roger Saunders, Gent., and Charles Harmer, 
Gent. 1 Henry Bagwell, Gent., was the first Clerk of Court 
and held office continuously until 1640. The Commissioners 
were assigned to. the command of the various plantations or 
districts and were men of. high military authority, though, 
there was no such thing at the time as a regular army organi- 
zation. The Commander, in addition to the performance 
of his Court . duties, was required to provide ammunition 
and to levy forces to repel the attacks of the Indians from 
the North ; to drill the men under his command, and to hold 
musters of the men, women and children of the Plantation 
on "holy dayes." 2 The form of commission, issued to the 
Commanders or Justices, had quite a military phraseology, 
for they were authorized to "command the several planta- 
tions and inhabitants within the same." They were also 
given the authority "to doe and execute whatever a Justice 
of Peace or two or more Justices of the Peace, may doe." 3 
The jurisdiction of the Court in which they sat as Justices 
was limited to petty cases arising on the Eastern Shore, in 
which the amount in controversy did not exceed one hundred 

'ITening, II, p. 170. Also Accomac County Records, Vol. I, 623-40, at 
East villr and copy in Va. State Library. 
'Hening, I, pp. 126, 127, 140, 175. 
'I Icning, I, p. 132. 



EASTEEN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 43 

pounds of tobacco, and to the punishment of offenses not 
involving life nor limb. The Court was able, however, to 
exercise much ingenuity in the selection of punishments. 
Fines, stripes, ducking, stocks, the pillory, lying neck-and- 
heels together at the church door, doing penance by making 
confession while standing in white sheets on stools in the 
church ; these and like devices made up to the Court the 
power denied it over life and limb. 1 

It is worthy of note that the first pages of the Accomac 
Court Records are not filled with any grotesque decrees. On 
the contrary, the first meeting of the Commissioners was 
devoted to more lofty matters. Since the following is a 
copy of the first page in the oldest court record in Virginia, 
and with the possible exception of the Plymouth Records, 
the oldest in English America, it is set out in full. 

"a court held at acchawmacke 

7th DAY OF JANUARY, 1632 

Present, Capt. Thomas Graves 

Capt. Edmund Scarborrow 
Mr. Obedience Robins 
Mr. John Howe 
Mr. Roger Saunders 

"It is ordered by this court that the now church wardens 
shall have power to distrayne upon goods and chattels of all 
such of the inhabitants of Achawmacke that have not yet 
fully paid their duties of come & tobacco unto the minister 
according to an Act made by the last Genall Assembly dated 
the 4th of September, 1631, and that the said church war- 
dens deteyne the said goods & chattels until satisfaccon be 
made according to the tenner and intent of the said Act." 2 

Mustice in Colonial Virginia, Chitwood, p. 89. 

2 Acconiac County Records, Vol. 1632-40, pp. 1-2 (Eastville and the 
copy in Va. St. Library ) . 



44 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

While the oldest records of the County have been burned 
or lost, the proceedings of the Court from 1632, ten years 
before the name of the peninsula was changed to Northamp- 
ton and thirty years before it was divided into two counties, 
have been preserved, and are now, as has been stated, pos- 
sibly the oldest court records in Virginia. Those who ex- 
amine these records, says Bishop Meade, are struck with 
nothing so much as the penitentiary discipline which they 
exhibit, more like that of the early ages than is to be found 
in Protestant times and countries. 1 They abound in legal 
curiosities. The court was strict and never failed to admin- 
ister justice to the best of its ability. The scandal-monger, 
the liar, the drunkard and the common scold, fared badly. 
The facts of a number of these remarkable old cases are given 
in order to throw light on the character of the people of the 
time. 

"Itt is thought fitt & soe ordered by this Cort that John 
Parramore for his unlawful swearing in a contemptuous 
manner in the fface of the Cort shall set by the heeles in the 
stockes for the space of one Complete houre" and on June 
9th, 1638, it was "Ordered that John Parramore shall sett 
by the heeles in the stockes att the tyme ofe Devyne Serviss 
upon the next Saboth daye ffor being drunke in the fface of 
the Cort." 

Upon the 2nd day of August, 1641, Goody Curtis was 
trying to milk her cow in the cowpen of the Widow Taylor, 
but the cow was not used to that pen and became restive. 
Goody lost her temper and cross words passed between her 
and Mrs. Taylor, who was looking on and no doubt making 
silly suggestions as women are wont at times to do. There- 
upon the good ladies fell to calling each other bad names, 

'Meade's Old Churches, Ministers and Families of Va. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 45 

ending in Mrs. Taylor smacking Mrs. Curtis's face, for 
which breach of the peace, the Court "Ordered that the 
Widow Taylor shoall pay unto John Curtis or anie other 
for his use, one potte of milk per daye, at the cowpen of the 
AViddowe Taylor until the last of September next, and pay 
all charges expended in this suite." 

On February 19th, 1634, "John Wattam, aged 24, Ran- 
dall Revell, aged 21 years, and John Ford, aged 25 years or 
thereabouts, sworne and examined, saye they heard Henry 
Charlton saye, that if he had had Mr. Cotton (the minister) 
without the church yeard he would have kickt him over the 
pallyzados, calling of him black rotted raskoll. Upon the 
complaynt of Mr. Cotton agst the sayd Charlton, and the 
depositions above expressed, it is ordered that the syd Charl- 
ton shall for the syd offense buyld a pare of stockes and sett 
in them three sevral Sabot h dayes in the tyme of Devyne 
serviss, and there ask Mr. Cotton forgiveness." 

In the records for the 8th of September, 1634, we find: 

"At this Cort Edward Drew preferred a petition against 
Joane Butler for calling his wife . . . and upon a 
dew examination & the depositions of John Halloway and 
Win. Baseley who affirmith the same on oath to be true, that 
the sayd Joane Butler used these words. Upon dew exami- 
nation it is thought fitt by this Board, that syd Joane But- 
ler doe acknowledge to have called Marie Drew 
& hereby I confess I have done her manifest wronge, where- 
fore I desire before this Congregation that the said Marie 
Drew will forgive me, and also that this Congregation will 
joyne and pray with me that God may forgive me." The 
penalty provided by the Court in case Joane should fail to 
retract her rash statements as directed was that she should 
be "drawne across King's Creek, at the starne of a canew." 
She evidently preferred the latter punishment, for at the 
very next Court, Thomas Butler, the husband of Joane, 



46 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

caused Marie Drew's arrest and upon trial the same sentence 
was meted out, "Or else she was to undergo the same pun- 
ishment which Joane Butler hath suffered." 

June 3rd, 1642 : "Whereas Robt. Wyard hath in a most 
disgraceful and barbarous manner blemisht the reputation of 
Alice Traveller the wife of George Traveller in the most 
base and ignominious language, by which defamation hath 
taken away the reputation of the syd Alice. It is therefore 
thought FFitt and requisite and accordingly ordered that 
the syd Robert Wyard shall stand three several Sandayes in 
the time of Devyne serviss before the face of the whole Con- 
gregation in a white sheet with a white wand in his hande 
which are to be provided by the Church wardens of this 
County and there shall aske the said Alice forgiveness in 
form and manner as shall be dictated unto him by the min- 
ister of this County of Northampton." This same Robert 
Wyard later stole a pair of pantaloons and was sentenced to 
appear in church for three Sundays with a pair of breeches 
tied around his neck, with the word "Thief" written upon 
his back. Mrs. Traveller, must have been a very fascinat- 
ing woman. She was married four times, in each instance 
to a very prominent man ; first, to George Traveller ; second, 
to William Burdette ; third, to Captain Peter Walker ; and 
fourth, to General John Custis of "Arlington." She died 
about 1658-60. Concerning her second husband, there is a 
remarkable entry in the records. "Thomas Butler, aged 27 
yeercs ; William Payne, aged 27 yeeres, sworne and examined 
as followeth: These deponents sayeth that, Mr. George Sco- 
vell did laye a wager with Mr. Moimtney, 10b. starlinge to 
5b. starlinge, calling us to witness the same, that Mr. Wil- 
liam Burdette should never mach in wedlocke with the Wid- 
dowe Sanders while they lived in Virginia. Soe the syd 
Scovell, not contented, but would laye 40b. starlinge more 
to 10b. starlinge that the syd Mr. William Burdett should 
never have the Widdowe Sanders." 

In 1643 the court inflicted punishment on one Richard 
Ruckland for writing a slanderous song on one Ann Smith, 



EASTEEN SHOEE OF VIEGINIA HISTOEY 47 

by ordering that "at the next sermon preached at Nassawat- 
tocks, he shall stand during the lessons, at the church door 
with a paper on his hat, on which shall be written 'Inimicus 
Libellus,' and that he shall ask forgiveness of God and also 
in particular of the said defamed Ann Smith." 

In 1655 the witch craze seems to have extended to the 
peninsula and was duly taken cognizance of by the court, 
for at that time the Rev. Francis Doughty had Barbara Win- 
brow brought before the Justices and charged her with the 
"guilt of witchery." She had already been acquitted by the 
General Court of a charge of sorcery. 1 

In 1664, Captain John Custis being High-Sheriff, there 
were eight presentments for violations of the seventh com- 
mandment, one for swearing, one for not attending church, 
and two for playing cards on Sunday. For more serious 
offenses the accused was sent to James City to be tried by the 
Governor and Council, who constituted the Court of Appeals. 
There appears to have been but one sentence of death imposed 
by the authorities of the Eastern Shore, prior to 1690. 

The first board of Commissioners met in a log cabin at 
Old Plantation, but soon after the creation of the Monthly 
Court in Accomac, the right of trial by jury was instituted, 
whereupon the cabin could not conveniently accommodate 
the increased number of persons in attendance upon the terms 
of court. From this time on, the Dinner or Poynt House 
at Old Plantation and the ordinary of Walter Williams at 
Nassawattocks, or Bridgetown, as it is now called, were used 
as temporary court-houses, until the regular County Court 
Houses were built. 2 The Holt House, which stood on the 
site of the old Taylor House in Eastville, was frequently 
employed as a place of meeting for the Court. The site of 

Northampton County Records, Vol. 1657-64, p. 18. 
2 See subsequent chapter for building of Court-Houses. 



48 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

Eastville was then known as "The Horns" from the fact that 
Hungar's Creek, near which it is situated, has two branches 
or horns. The one nearest Eastville was called by the In- 
dians, Wissaponson or YYiscaponson Creek, the other, Rocky 
Branch. 1 

On December 10th, 1633, the Secretary of the Colony 
was given power to lease his lands in Accomack for periods 
not to exceed twenty-one years ; and during the same year 
the first land was patented on the sea-side. It should be 
understood that locality on the peninsula is designated as 
bay-side or sea-side, according to which body of water the 
nearest creeks flow into. From the earliest times, there have 
been thoroughfares known as the bay-side and sea-side roads, 
running from Cape Charles into Maryland, which in places 
are several miles from either shore. 



'Chancery Proceedings, Vol. I, Land Causes, p. 267. Northampton 
County Records. Also Deed, March 1688, Vol. XI, Deeds, Wills, Etc., 
p. 207. 



The Kingdom of Accawmacke and the Aborigines 

Accomac means the "other-side-place," or "on-the-other- 
side-of-water-place." 1 In the Massachusetts language 
"ogkome" or "akawine" means "beyond"; and "ac," "aki," 
or "ahki," in various Algonquin dialects, means "land." 
According to Dr. Wm. Jones, the term is probably akin to 
Chippewa "ugaming," "the other shore," and to the Sauk, 
Fox, and Kickapoo "ug'amahegi," "ing" in the one case and 
"-gi" in the other being variations of the same suffix express- 
ing "place where." 2 

The Virginia peninsula was not the only locality named 
Accomack by the Indians, for referring to different places in 
New England in 1614, Smith called the present site of 
Plymouth, "Accomack." In referring to the various Indian 
Settlements along the New England coast, he wrote : 

"The next I can remember by name are Mattahunk, then 
Tottans, then Accomack, then Chowan. 3 And in his general 
description of the country is to be found the following pas- 
sage: 

" 'Then come you to Accomack, an excellent good harbor, 
good land and no want of anything but industrious people.'* 
Later on Smith mentions that Prince Charles changed the 
name of Accomack to Plimouth. 5 As late as 1640, the name 

Trumbull. 

2 Hand book of American Indians, Vol. I. Bureau of American 
Ethnology. 

3 Smith's History of Virginia, p. 192. 
4 Ibid. p. 205. 
6 Ibid. pp. 699-700. 

49 



50 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

Accomack as applied to the country about Plymouth, Massa- 
chusetts, was in use among the New Englanders and Indians 
as illustrated by the following: 

" 'Owsamekin, the sachem of Acooemack on this side of 
Connecticut, came to the governor, etc' m 

This similarity in the names of the New England and 
Eastern Shore Indians indicates a close relationship between 
the Powhatans and the Massachusetts. 

It is a remarkable fact that the two oldest sets of court 
records in the United States to-day are to be found in the 
two Accomacks. Those of Plymouth are said to date from 
1629, but are not complete for the first few years, while those 
at Eastville, the present seat of Northampton County, Vir- 
ginia, date from 1632 without a break. 

To the early colonists of Virginia, the Indians of the 
Eastern Shore peninsula were commonly known as Accaw- 
niacks. That one name embraced all of the divisions and 
sub-divisions into families through which the peninsula 
natives as a tribe had passed. Unfortunately Verrazano did 
not mention, in either of the two letters which he wrote in 
1524 describing his visit to the Eastern Shore, the name 
which the natives bore, nor a single word of their language. 2 

When Smith first landed at Cape Charles in 1608, he was 
met by Kictopeake, the brother and Prime Minister of 
Debedeavon, the Werowance, the "laughing King of the 
Accomacks," whose principal village, Accomack, was prob- 
ably located some distance inland from the bay on the shore 
of Cherrystone Creek. 3 Smith tells us of another tribe on 
the Eastern Shore, the Accohanocks, whose town was also 

'Winthrop's History of New England. Vol. I, p. 317. Ibid. Vol. XI, 
p. 476. 

2 Early Voyages to America. Conway Robinson. 
"Jefferson's Notes. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 51 

of the tribal name. The Accomacks, he says, were able to 
muster eighty and the Accohanocks forty warriors. 1 Both 
tribes spoke the language of Powhatan, who ruled over them 
as King, but this rule or dominion over them by Powhatan, 
though expressly stated by Smith, must obviously have been 
more in the nature of an alliance than an absolute dominion. 
The breadth of the Chesapeake, at this part of it, between 
Powhatan and the Kingdom of Accawmacke, must have ren- 
dered his power over it very feeble, especially when we reflect 
upon the difficulty of navigating such a water with Indian 
canoes. This receives some confirmation by the following 
remark, "there may be on this Shore (meaning the Eastern 
Shore of Virginia) about two thousand people. They on 
the west would invade them, but that they want boats to 
cross the baye." 2 

It is possible, however, that Powhatan might, at some time 
before, have made a conquest of the Accawmackes. He did 
not gain them by inheritance, if it be true, as is said, that 
the countries inherited by him from his ancestors lay only 
about James River and Pamaunkee. 3 

It is very probable that the Nantiquaks (Nanticokes), 4 
whom Smith mentions as inhabiting the country adjacent to 
the Cuskarawaock River (Nanticoke), were once a tribe of 
the great Lenape Nation, forced northward by the Powhatans. 
From the fact that Smith expressly mentions that the natives 
who inhabited that part of the peninsula, which is now a 
portion of Virginia, belonged to the Powhatan Confederacy 
and spoke that language, it would seem reasonable to suppose 
that the Indians living in what is now Maryland were not of 

'Smith's History of Va., Vol. I, p. 120, ed. 1819. 
Smith's History of Va., Vol. II, p. 64. 
3 Smith's History of Virginia, Vol. I, p. 142. 
4 Nanticokes — "Tide-Water People." (Hendren.) 



52 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

the same race. But as Smith did not explore any part of 
the present territory of Maryland on the Eastern Shore im- 
mediately adjacent to the present division line between Mary- 
land and Virginia, nearer than the Nanticoke River, we are 
unable to tell exactly how far Powhatan's territories on the 
Eastern Shore extended northward, or whether they com- 
prehended any of the Indians north of the present Virginia 
boundary. Although Beverley tells us that the Indians who 
inhabited Gingoteage ( Chincoteague Island), in 1705, were 
joined with a nation of Maryland Indians, he did not men- 
tion any difference between their language and that of the 
other Indians of Accomac and Northampton. 1 

Now if Verrazano had mentioned the name of the Indians 
inhabiting the peninsula in 1624, we would have at least 
known whether or not the Powhatans came before or after 
that date and whether the natives of his time were of Lenape 
or Algonquin extraction. 

The student who desires to study the ethnology of the 
Accomack and Accohanock Indians will be disappointed and 
surprised by the meagreness of the information at his com- 
mand. Practically nothing is known of their origin except 
that they were of Algonquin descent. Nothing is known of 
their history prior to 1608. 

When Smith first visited Accomack, Debedeavon, the 
Laughing King, was Lord of all he surveyed, for the western 
shore, where his overlord Powhatan headed the great Indian 
Confederacy, was just beyond the reach of human eyes. The 
occasional glimpse which he caught of Cape Henry served, 
no doubt, to remind him of a certain dependency which 
otherwise he would have forgotten. The Accawmacke In- 

'Beverley's History of Virginia (Edit, of 1722), p. 199. 
For full treatment of preceding subject, Bozman's History of Mary- 
land, Vol. I, p. 162 et seq. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 53 

dians, in their isolated country, were troubled very little by 
the cares and worries of their brothers across the bay and 
intercourse with them was almost impossible, for the light 
canoes of the natives were not suited to voyages across the 
broad, and at times angry, waters of the Chesapeake. The 
peninsula Indians were then, though kin by blood and gov- 
ernmental ties to the natives of the Western Shore, a tribe 
all to themselves. The conditions obtaining in their little 
kingdom were such as would naturally calm the fiery and 
warlike character. Life with them was not one long strug- 
gle for existence against marauders from other regions. They 
were not born upon the warpath, reared amidst the din and 
strife of contending tribes, nor of necessity tutored from in- 
fancy in the cruel arts of savage warfare. Their villages 
seem to have been more or less permanent, for their restricted 
territory did not afford unlimited acres over which they 
might rove. Soon, therefore, the nomadic habits of their 
forefathers were out-bred as the result of their territorial 
circumstances, and with this element of native character 
went many essential qualities of the nomad. They neither 
intruded upon the domains of others, nor by reason of their 
isolation were they intruded upon; hence the causes which 
made a warrior of every native on the mainland were absent 
in their case. 

The foregoing reasons for the peaceful nature of the East- 
ern Shore Indians are not the only ones. Proper weight 
must be given to the effect of the mild climate of the penin- 
sula and the generous soil, which yielded abundant supplies 
of grain and tobacco, with little or no work. And when the 
crop failed from some cause or other, they were not forced 
to make forays against their neighbors nor send out their 
young men on foraging expeditions into the territory of the 
enemy, a practice which was a potent factor in the training 



54 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

of the warrior. What need of such measures when their 
whole coast was one long line of oyster rocks and clam banks ; 
when every marsh and island was alive with wild fowl ! The 
familiar honk of geese had hardly ceased before the shrill cry 
of the Curlew announced his Northern flight. Ducks of 
every variety congregated along the sea-side during the win- 
ter, and early in the spring were supplanted by the Willet, 
the Plover and the Snipe. Unlimited shoals of fish passed 
through the inlets, into the creeks and the nets of the natives. 
Terrapin and shrimp abounded in the marshes and neighbor- 
ing waters. Even deer and bear found their way down from 
the North. 

When we consider then how lightly the iron hand of win- 
ter rested upon the peninsula; how bountifully nature sup- 
plied these natives with every luxury ; the absence of enemies 
to disturb their quiet and happy life ; it is small wonder that 
they differed from their hard-pressed brothers across the 
water. As savages, they were degenerates. As a people for 
pioneers to come in contact with, their mildness and lack of 
resistance made them a most desirable pattern for their race 
in the eyes of the white man. 

In 1621, when John Pory visited Debedeavon, he found 
that the tractable old fellow shouldered upon himself very 
few of the cares of government, but left the management of 
affairs almost entirely in the hands of Kictopeake, his bro- 
ther. Perhaps after all the King was more lazy than humor- 
ous and befriended the whites because it was easier than 
fighting them. He explained to Pory that, seeing his people 
were better controlled by his younger brother than himself, 
he voluntarily surrendered the reigns of government and 
devoted himself exclusively to husbandry and hunting. 1 Ah, 

'Observations of Master John Pory, Smith's History of Va. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 55 

indeed, he was a true Virginian of the old school ! Yet ex- 
plained the old Indian, Kictopeake is as faithful and vigi- 
lant a councilor, as he is an affectionate brother, bearing the 
greater burden in government, though the lesser honour. 1 

The name of Okiawampe appears frequently in the county 
records of the early days, as that of a native ruler. The 
Indians were superstitious about their secret or religious 
names, and it may be that Okiawampe was the same person 
as Debedeavon ; but the public acts of the two relating to the 
whites are so intermingled, that it is difficult to determine 
whether they were the same personage, or whether Okia- 
wampe was the heir and successor of Debedeavon, or brother 
and co-ruler, as was Kictopeake. 2 At any rate, Okiawampe 
died in 1657, and his will is on record in Eastville. 3 It is a 
short but pathetic instrument by which he directed that his 
daughter should rule his people, and that certain of his great 
men should counsel and advise her so that she might rule her 
kingdom well. Even though the poor old King had been dis- 
turbed in his hunting by Richard Hill, who pointed a gun at 
him, 4 he cautioned his daughter to preserve the good will of 
their white friends as he had done. "What a travesty upon 
friendship was that of the white confiscators who were fast 
driving his people from the face of the earth ! Call it 
friendship or good judgment, as you please, on the part of 
Debedeavon, his entire energies seem to have been bent upon 
the maintenance of amicable relations between his people 
and the whites. This was shown by an instance when a white 
man and a boy were killed by some prowling Indians up the 

Observations of Master John Pory, Smith's History of Va. 
2 See address of T. T. Upshur, Va. Mag. of Hist, and Bio., Vol. IX, 
p. 91. 

3 See Vol. 1657-1666, Northampton County Records. Will dated 
April 22, 1657. 

Northampton County Records, Vol. Ill, May 7, 1650. 



56 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

bay. The King at once sent a deputation of his warriors 
from Nandua to Accomack with two Indians as a reparation. 
They brought also quantities of roanoke and beaver skins as 
a peace offering. When the interpreter delivered the King's 
message to the commander, Col. Obedience Robins, the latter 
said, a God forbid that I should take an Indian for a white 
man," and ordered the deputation to embark in their canoes 
with the human sacrifices. The Indians hesitated to return 
without having complied with the royal mandate, and seeing 
them tarry about the settlement for several days, Daniel 
Cugley, who married Hannah Tyng, the widow of Thomas 
Savage, and at whose place the Embassy had landed, appro- 
priated the roanoke and pelts and set the peace Ambassadors 
to work on his farm. When the Commander heard of Cug- 
ley's act, he was furious, arrested Cugley and sent him to 
Jamestown for trial. Poor Cugley died shortly after this 
unfortunate affair, and never forgave the court and Colonel 
Robins for their treatment of him. 1 

The settlers in turn evidently appreciated the advantage 
of Debedeavon's Friendship, as shown by the following: 

"Whereas Wathiwamp (the same name as Okiawampe 
and Wachiwampe) Kinge of the Occahannocks Indyans, he 
sent his complt to this Cort that Richard Hill, Overseer unto 
Mr. Edm. Scarburgh, his servants inhabiting all Occahan- 
nocke, has lately presented a gun at the breast of the Sd 
Kinge of Occahannocke, whereby he was disturbed in his 
hunting, Upon consideration of ye badd Consequences wch 
maye ensue upon such unadvised p'actices, it is thought fitt 
& ordered that for future tyme noe Englishman shall dis- 
turb, molest, or act anything ag'st the sd Indyan Kinge to 
hindr him in his huntinge, as they will answer the same." 2 

'Northampton County Records, Vol. II. 

Northampton County Records, Vol. Ill, pp. 207-212. May 7, 1650. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 57 

Colonel Scarburgh seems to have had the propensity of 
disturbing the Indians, and some of his hatred of them was, 
no doubt, transmitted to his servants. 

As early as 1640, the authorities had shown their desire to 
protect the Indians, for that year Philip Taylor, of Kent 
Island fame, attempted to encroach on a tract of land along 
Mattawaman Creek which had been laid out for the Indians. 
Upon their complaint, the matter was investigated, and we 
find the following entry in the court records of the year : 

"It is thought fit & ordered by this Court That Philip 
Taylor nor any other person or persons belonging to him, the 
said Taylor, shall disturb or molest the Indians, formerly 
seated at Mattawan Creek, neither for any cause or reason, 
to clear or work upon the ground, whereon they are now 
seated, by reason Nath'l Littleton, Argal Yeardley, Capt. 
Wm. Stone, Mr. Wm. Stone, & Capt. Wm. Koper have taken 
special charge of the place, Therefore if the said Indians be 
displaced of the 2,000 acres of Land, which Mr. Taylor doth 
lay claim to, they can in no wise permit ; and furthermore 
that the plantation of Phillip Taylor, can not be impaired 
thereby, he being seated on one side of the Creek & they on 
the other side, & not hitherto hath either built on that side 
the Indians are appointed to dwell on." 

While there were a number of small communities or vil- 
lages of Indians (referred to hereafter, for convenience, as 
tribes), the Eastern Shore was really a Kingdom under one 
ruler, who held his court at Great Nusswattocks, or Nandua, 
as it is now called. There the King summoned his great 
men or tribal chiefs to meet in council ; and there he received 
his royal tribute of eight bushels of corn and three arrow- 
heads per year from each tribe. It was at these state coun- 
cils that the various policies of the Kingdom were discussed 
and determined upon, and no doubt ambassadors were there 



58 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

appointed to attend the court of Powhatan. History tells us 
that in 1622 Opecancanough sent messengers to the Acco- 
mack Councils, with orders for his dependents or confeder- 
ates to gather a certain poisonous herb, which grew on the 
Eastern Shore, and nowhere else, and send it to him, so that 
he could poison the wells of the white men. But a friendly 
policy had already been defined by the King, who not only 
refused to aid in the massacre, but informed the whites of the 
impending storm. 1 

It seems that the friendship of the natives was further 
secured about this time by a promise on the part of the whites 
to aid the Accomacks in making war upon their enemies, the 
Wicocomocoes, who dwelt far up the great bay. 

The disposition of the various families who, in the old 
records, are frequently graced with the name of "nations," is 
interesting. 

In Northampton, as now distinguished from Accomac, 
were the Gingaskins or Gingascos, probably the largest tribe 
on the peninsula and the last to disappear. Their main vil- 
lage or town was located upon the "Pocahontas" farm, re- 
cently in the possession of Mrs. McNutt ; and their territory 
extended from the Indiantown landing on that farm, past 
the present site of Eastville Station, some distance towards 
the "Horns." 2 

Very few traces, if any, of these Indians remain, but it is 
recounted how as late as 1862, one Mollie Stephens — when 
she became tipsy, as she frequently did — would shout, "I'm 
the Ingin Queen !" and persons much older than herself said 
that she was doubtless the daughter of the last Gingaskin 

a See previous chapter on the Plantation of Accawmacke. 
2 Eastville. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 59 

King — a queen without maids of honor to minister unto 
her — a sovereign without vassals or kingdom. 1 

The Gingaskins seem to have had several branches or out- 
lying families. First, near Cape Charles, on Magothy Bay, 2 
was a small band believed to be the Magothas. Though the 
name of their King is unknown, their home was on the farm 
formerly known as the Edward Fitchett place. Next were 
the Mattawames under King Pomoccomon, a very small and 
poor band who were settled about Old Town or Hungar's 
Neck. They soon became a charge upon the whites and dis- 
appeared. Then there was King Tepiapon who ruled the 
small band of Nuswattocks of Elliot's Neck. 3 

Over the present boundary of the two counties were the 
Accohanocks 4 and Curratocks, 5 the subjects of King Andia- 
man. Their villages were near the extremities of Scarburgh's 
and Cradock Necks. "Until recently," says the late Mr. 
T. T. Upshur, our authority on these Indians, "I have be- 
lieved that Craddock Neck was so called in honor of Lieu- 
tenant Craddock, who commanded the first detail of salt 

'Upon one occasion, when decidedly unsteady from too many pota- 
tions of "fire-water," and when she had, judging by the dusty and muddy 
appearance of her gown, been down in the road, she came dancing 
through the piazza of the hotel in Eastville, where some gentlemen were 
sitting. Among them was a certain gentleman, afterwards a judge, 
attired as usual, in the most tidy and careful manner in white linen 
trousers and Marseilles vest. As Mollie passed him she shouted, "Ugh! 
ugh ! I'm the Ingin Queen ! I'm the Ingin Queen ! " and losing her 
balance at that moment, sat down suddenly in his lap. This raised a 
great laugh at his expense, and he became so much incensed that he 
caused her arrest and incarceration, but soon recovered his temper and 
had her released. 

2 Pronounced Mag-goty. There is a beautiful flowering pea which 
grows along the sea-side of the peninsula, known as the Magothy Bay 
Bean. The blossom is yellow. It is considered a valuable fertilizer 
when plowed under. 

3 Nuswattocks, Nassawaddox, etc. — A stream between two streams 
(Brinton). 

*Accohanock or Occohannock — Narrow and winding stream. 

"Cruddox. 



60 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

makers at Dale's Gift in 1616, but I have seen an item in our 
court records, the original of which was evidently written by 
Parson Teakle — in which he mentioned his plantation on 
Curratock — showing that the same is really the Indian 
word." 

Next came the village of Debedeavon, situated on Nandua 
Creek, State seat of ye Emperor of ye Easterne Shoare and 
King of ye Great Nusswattocks, as he is styled. Then comes 
the village of Ekeeks, King of the Onancocks, on the present 
Onancock Creek. 1 

Ekeeks, judging from the frequency with which his name 
appears in the court records, was probably the most import- 
ant King after Debedeavon, Kictopeake and Okiawampe. 

Nowmetrawen ruled the Chesconnessex, on Chesconnessex 
Creek. Parahokes was King of the Chincoteagues, on Chin- 
coteague Bay. Awascecencas was King of the Kickotanks, 
Conantesminoc of the Matchateagues, and Matom of the 
Matomkins, their respective localities being indicated by the 
tribal names. These were all small bands. The sea-side 
tribe of Matchipungoes was comparatively large and had 
several villages, one at or near Wachapreague, another lower 
down the neck, and yet another on the Woodlands and Brown- 
ville farms in Northampton. 2 

Although the Matchipungoes were famous for the manu- 
facture of roanoke, or rawrenoke, 3 extensively employed by 
the natives even on the Western Shore for currency, they 
were very poor. All along the sea-side the Indians conducted 

'Foggy Place. 

2 Dr. Brinton says that Matchapungo means fine dust, or flies, and, 
as the name belonged to Hog Island as well as to the river and to the 
Indian tribe, we may reasonably infer, in the absence of anything to the 
contrary, that the sand or mosquitoes on Hog Island gave rise to the 
name. ( Upshur. ) 

3 Roanoke — thing or place of shells. (Hendren.) 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 61 

a regular mint for turning out this shell money; yet their 
chief articles of traffic with the whites were beaver skins. 
The wealth of these poor sea-side savages was all in nature's 
storehouse, and while that was filled with luxuries to over- 
flowing, the very ease with which life was surrounded 
seemed to sap the energies of the sea-side Indians to such an 
extent that they were destitute of any material means. They 
lived mainly on fish, oysters and clams, as the great piles of 
shells near the native villages still attest. Yet deer, bears, 
wolves, wildcats, and small game were plentiful, and in one 
place it is recorded that an Indian sold three moose skins. 1 
Game rapidly diminished after the arrival of the whites 
with their fowling pieces and shot, and hunting became un- 
profitable on the part of the natives. 

Lying on the East and extending well north of Chingo- 
teague Island, is the Island of Assateague. Between the 
upper end of this large Island and the Maryland Shore, is 
what was known as Assateague bay, but now called Chingo- 
teague Sound. The Indians who inhabited this region were 
unquestionably nearly related to the Nanticokes and not 
connected with the Powhatan Confederates of the lower 
peninsula. Being more warlike, they resisted the encroach- 
ments of the Accomack settlers from the first. At an early 
date they complained to the Land Commission of Maryland 
that one William Whittington, who claimed that the lower 
end of Assateague Island was in Virginia, had settled among 
them and upon their lands. 2 These Indians appear very 
little in the records of Accomac or Northampton, but are 
constantly referred to in the Maryland records, for they 

^hese skins must have been brought from the far Xorth. 
2 See Maryland Archives, Proceedings of Council, 1667-1687-8. 



62 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

frequently sought the aid of that province to stop the advance 
of the white man from the South. 1 

An early record describes the Assateague tribe as composed 
of the Assateagues, Transquakin, Choptico, Moteawaughkin, 
Quequashkecaquick, Hatsawap, Wachetak, Marauqhquaick 
and Manasksons, all under the Emperor of Assateague. 2 It 
was these Indians who gave Colonel Scarburgh and the East- 
ern Shoremen so much concern in the early days. Then there 
was another tribe located along the Pocomoke River and the 
northern boundary of Accomac, which gave some trouble to 
the whites of the Eastern Shore. These Indians also sought 
aid from Maryland. There were five several branches of 
this tribe, viz. : Pocomokes, Annamessex, Manoakin, Nasswat- 
tox, and Aquintica seated at a place called Askiminokonson. 
This Nassawattox branch may have been related to the fam- 
ily of similar name in Northampton and Accomac, but at any 
rate was separated from it in their alliance with the 
more northern tribes. On May 6th, 1686, the Kings of 
Pocomoke and Assateague, with other important men of the 
northern Indians, presented themselves to the Land Office 
Commissioners of Maryland, and after exchanging presents, 
etc., complained that Chas. Scarburgh, of Accomac, and 
others, had seated upon a part of their lands called Askimi- 
nokonson Neck; that Captain Osbourne and Mr. Whitting- 
ton had taken up land within their bounds; and that their 
crops were constantly injured by the white men's cattle which 
crossed the two bridges over the Pocomoke. But these In- 
dians did not fall back upon peaceful resort to the Maryland 
Courts until Conjurer Scarburgh, "the bad white chief," 
had exhausted their military prowess. His name was a ter- 
ror along the border. The mere mention of it cast a magic 
spell over the red men. 

'Maryland Archives, Proceedings of Council, 1667-1687-8, p. 480. 
2 Il»id'. 



EASTEEN SHOEE OF VIEGINIA HISTOBY 63 

"In the moon of Roasting-Ears (August) palefaces from 
the land of the Accomacks wanted war. The black wampum- 
belt, the red hatchet painted on it, was sent from chief to 
chief along the sea-side and over beyond to Pocomoke. The 
King of the bad whites was angry, and came with horse and 
guns. After awhile the cloud went down. The Quackels 
(Quakers) came into our land. 'The bad white chief and 
his friends had driven them there. They loved peace. But 
at one time he put on his war paint and swam the Pocomoke 
and followed them to Pocomoke. He hated Quackels. Once 
we thought of killing all the whites when in a quarrel and 
divided. But the Quackels were kind to Indians. Then the 
great father across the bay said the bad white chief must 
stay beyond the marked trees." 1 

The foregoing is supposed to be the narrative of a Poco- 
moke Chief who refers to Conjurer Scarburgh. 2 

The number of Indians on the Eastern Shore was stated 
by Smith to be about two thousand at the time of his visit in 
1608. If this estimate was correct, there was, for natives, a 
fairly dense population at the time, when we consider the 
size of the peninsula. But as the white men came in ever 
increasing numbers, the Indians gradually disappeared. Vice 
and disease did their work and the irresistible surge of civili- 
zation wore away the native population. In 1667, a sailor 
from the Bermudas landed at Accomack, ill of smallpox. 
He was isolated by the chirurgeons and placed in a log house 
in the woods ; but in a time of delirium he escaped from the 
cabin, and, wandering to the Indian town, inoculated that 
tribe or village, and from there the disease spread all over 
the Eastern Shore, leading to an awful mortality among the 
natives. 3 It is said that the Indians ever afterwards believed 

J Days of Makemie, L. P. Bowen. 

2 See Chapters on Maryland Boundary and Quakers. 
3 See Order of Sir Wm. Berkeley, Northampton County Records. 
Vol. VIII, p. 19. 



64 EASTEEN SHOKE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

that the sailor had been sent among them by the whites to 
kill them. 

But if the sea-side Indians were a race of lazy fishermen 
and huntsmen, and like the poorer class of clam diggers and 
oystermen, pot-hunters and 'longshoremen, who live along 
the marshes and on the islands to-day, were improvident and 
shiftless, the other Indians of the peninsula were not. We 
have seen how Captains Martin and Savage found great sup- 
plies of grain among them, when the western country was 
starving, at a time when it was the custom of the Virginia 
Indians in general to raise only enough maize each season to 
last through the year. The Eastern Shore Indians alone 
seem to have exercised remarkable prudence and foresight 
in this respect, and to have laid by generous stores of grain 
as an emergency supply. Their methods of husbandry seem 
to have been more improved than usual among the natives, 
and they exercised far better judgment in the tilling of their 
soil. No doubt this was due to the permanency of their resi- 
dence. The Indians of the western shore never knew when 
an enemy would swoop down upon them, destroying their 
crops and seizing their stores. Hence they did not care to 
expend any more labor in the cultivation of crops than was 
necessary to give them a present supply. 

It was not always an Indian enemy who preyed upon the 
natives. In Northampton, where the Indians were ever 
friendly and generous in their dealings with the whites and 
gave no trouble even through the dark and bloody days of 
1622 and 1644, the settlers so encroached upon their rights, 
that in 1654, by general consent of the people, they were 
given the fullest protection against all intrusions on their 
grounds; and the right was granted to them to dispose of 
their lands by sale, upon certain conditions. 1 On account, 

'Pfennig's Statutes, Vol. I, p. 456. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 65 

quite probably, of the fact that the narrow extent of the 
Eastern Shore placed the tribe inhabiting that part of the 
Colony more at the mercy of unscrupulous white persons who 
were anxious to intrude on their hunting grounds, the assem- 
bly exhibited throughout the seventeenth century unusual 
care in furnishing them the protection they needed so much. 
In 1660, the Indians of Accomac complained that they had 
been deprived of their lands to such an extent that they were 
in a straightened condition, and they asked that proper 
measures be adopted to raise a barrier against the further 
advance of the English upon their property. The action of 
the authorities in response to this petition was highly sig- 
nificant. They were not content that the grounds should be 
laid off for the Accomack tribe by a surveyor of the Eastern 
Shore. Thinking that such a surveyor might perform the 
work to the prejudice of the Aborigines, instructions were 
given that the services of a resident of the Western Shore 
should be obtained, who would have no motive in determin- 
ing the lands beyond a desire to execute the task conscien- 
tiously. The extent of the country to be assigned was to be 
sufficient to afford the Indians an ample subsistence without 
regard to what they could earn by hunting and fishing, and 
they should have no power to alienate it. 1 This prohibition 
upon the alienation of their lands was not extended in its 
scope to the Aborigines on the Western Shore until 1662. 

In March, 1676, when the prospects of an Indian war 
greatly alarmed the people, it was provided that all who sup- 
plied the natives with arms, powder, and shot, should not 
only forfeit their whole estate, but suffer death in addition, 
The only persons allowed to furnish friendly Indians with 
match-coats, hoes and axes were such as had been nominated 

herring, Vol. I, p. 456. 



66 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

by the county courts. 1 One of the first laws passed by the 
Assembly, controlled by Bacon, made all trade with the In- 
dians illegal, unless they were serving in the war with the 
English, in which case, also, no weapon nor ammunition was 
to be given to them. 2 In the following year the right of 
absolute free trade was granted to the Indian population of 
the Eastern Shore. 3 Certain places were now appointed as 
Indian marts, to which all Indians who were at peace with 
the whites were invited to come at specified times. These 
marts were situated respectively in Henrico, Isle of Wight, 
New Kent, Rappahannock, Lancaster, Stafford, Accomac 
and Northampton, and were to be open in March, April and 
May and in September and November in the fall of the year, 
the occasion for each being restricted to a day. For each 
mart an account was kept by a clerk appointed by the Gover- 
nor. 4 

In 1677, each of the Indian towns, under the terms of a 
treaty of peace with the whites, with whom difficulties had 
existed for about twenty-five years, paid three Indian arrow- 
heads for their land, and twenty beaver skins for protection 
from the Indians of Maryland. 5 

The peaceful Indians of the Eastern Shore, among whom 
the first colonists of the peninsula settled, had greatly dimin- 
ished by the end of the seventeenth century, and the dying 
out of the Savages was followed by the arrival of negroes 
in large numbers, of whom up to that time there had been 
but few. Robert Beverley, who wrote about that time, tells 
us that "in 1700, the Indians of Eastern Virginia were almost 

'Hening, Vol. II, p. 337. 

2 Hening, Vol. I, pp. 350-351. 

3 Ibid., p. 403. Hening, Vol. II, p. 410-12. 

4 Ibid., p. 403. 

'Beverley's History of Va.. p. 184. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 67 

wasted, but such towns and people as retain their names and 
live in bodies are hereunder set down; all of which together 
can't raise 500 fighting men." In Accoraac, he says there 
are eight towns: 

1. — "Gingoteague. — The remains of this town are joined 
with a Nation of Maryland Indians. 

2. — Metomkin. — Which was much decreased of late by 
smallpox that was carried thither. 

3. — Kicquotank. — Is reduced to a very few men. 

4. — Matchapungo. — Has a small number yet living. 

5. — Ocahannock. — Has a small number yet living. 

6. — Pungoteague. — Governed by a Queen, but a small 
nation. 

7. — Onancock. — Has four or five families. 

8. — Chisconessex. — Has a very few, who just keep the 
name. 

9. — Nandua. — A seat of the Empress — not above twenty 
families — but she has all the nations on the Shore under 
tribute. 

10. — In Northampton the Gangascoe (Gingaskins), which 
is almost as numerous as all the foregoing put together." 1 

As late as 1812, however, there were a few of the Gin- 
gaskins holding land in common, 2 but by this time all tribal 
identity had been lost, and so mixed did the miserable rem- 
nant become by 1833, that they were driven off during the 
excitement subsequent to the Nat Turner Insurrection. 3 

Beverley's History of Va., p. 184. 

2 Schoolcroft, Vol. V, p. 36. (Ed. 1855.) 

3 For valuable information as to customs and habits of Early Vir- 
ginia Indians, see Robert Beverley's History of Virginia. Also see 
Norwood's interesting account of his stay with the Kickotank Indians 
of Assateague Bav, Vol. III. Force's Collect, of Historical Tracts. 



VI 

Origin of the People 

The pioneers of Accomack were, without exception, sprung 
from a sturdy English stock. A decade or more elapsed be- 
fore the English gentry made its appearance. After 1630 
large numbers of the latter class poured into the little sea- 
girt land. The influx of settlers was so sudden that the bet- 
ter class was not forced through the usual levelling process, 
when social barriers fall before the stress of common danger 
and enterprise. In general, it is only after the pioneer has 
been through the sieve, a period of toil and deprivation, that 
the elements of society become refined and segregated. But 
on the Eastern Shore, the generous hand of nature and 
aborigine, alike, combined to do away with the elementary 
process of colonization. The gentleman immigrant assumed 
his accustomed role from the first upon this virgin soil. 

As a result then, of the easy conditions, a number of dis- 
tinct social classes were to be found among the inhabitants 
as early as 1625-30. First there were the large planters, 
many of whom came from Northampton and Norfolk. They 
monopolized all the offices and controlled affairs generally. 
Next, came a class of carpenters, ship-builders, and mechan- 
ics of all trades, who acquired small land holdings, and grad- 
ually became planters of a second social order, comprising 
a sturdy yeomanry which exists to this day. The third class, 
and one which increased rapidly after the flood tide of im- 
migration set in, was that of the huntsmen, fishermen, oyster- 
men, and islanders, a race of dauntless seamen, unexcelled 

68 



EASTERN SHOKE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 69 

in their special pursuits by any people in the world. Their 
very peculiarity brought them into such striking prominence 
that they seem to have impressed the historians to the utter 
exclusion of the other elements of Accomack society. The 
romance of the sea has ever proved attractive to the Eastern 
Shoreman, even of the higher classes, but the liberty of the 
vast marshes, the isolated islands, the secluded inlets, stocked 
as they were with fish and fowl, early attracted a class of 
lazy ne'er-do-wells, who soon degenerated into a lower order 
of 'longshoremen. A fourth, and small class, was that of the 
white servant. In general, the distinction was ephemeral, 
for but few whites who entered the service of another re- 
mained for a long period in this menial condition. Accord- 
ing to his individual character, the servant, at the termina- 
tion of his servitude, attached himself to the yeomanry or the 
'longshoremen. It is impossible to judge accurately of the 
size of this class from the immigration records, for gentlemen 
were frequently listed as servants, and many young men of 
superior social position entered the service of another for a 
period long enough to defray by their labor the cost of trans- 
portation. 

Owing to nearly three centuries of isolation, the popula- 
tion of the Eastern Shore remains more purely English in 
origin than that of any part of the world with the exception 
of England itself. 1 The county records of recent years con- 
tain names which centuries ago were identified with the social 
and political history of England and not to be found even 
on the western shore of Virginia. 

In these records for the seventeenth century, we find such 
names as Washington, Scarburgh, 2 Goffigan, Tully, Spady, 

*First Railroad connection with Maryland, Delaware, and the North 
was established in 1884. 

frequently spelt Scarborough and Scarbrugh. 



70 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

Whittington, Paulson, Costin, Tatham, Carew, Goring, 
Southey, Wraxall, Parramore, Satchell, Fowke, Fitchett, Sal- 
isbury, Wise, Walpole, Hallet, Capel, Luddington, Cropper, 
Joynes, Severn, Sommerville, Dalby, Empson, Ratcliffe, Der- 
by, Cade, Pitt, Mortimer. Fortesque, Somerset, Bloomfield, 
( Joxton, Foxcroft, Marlow, Custis, Charlton, Horsey, Waples, 
Leatherbury, Upshur, Nottingham, and others of unmistak- 
able origin, the majority of which are to be found to-day on 
the peninsula, and few of them elsewhere, unless directly 
traceable to the Eastern Shore. 

The first mention of the name of Washington in any of the 
records of America appears in those of Northampton for 
September 5, 1636, when Jacob Washington was granted an 
execution upon the goods and chattels of John Forbush. 
Captain Roger Marshall had also lived there from early in 
the seventeenth century. Ann Southey, the wife of Na- 
thaniel Littleton, stood as god-mother at the christening of 
his eldest son. The name of the first member of the Bushrod 
family to settle in Virginia appears in the records of North- 
ampton as a merchant in 1644. 

Many of the earliest names appear elsewhere in Virginia 
and in the United States in general, such as Robins, Kendall, 
Bayley or Bayly, Gillet, Blackstone, Savage, Bowman, West, 
Fletcher, Finney, White, Bowdoin, Wilkins, Douglas, Lit- 
tleton, Harrington, Blake, Stanley Kell'am, Kellar, Pitts, 
Waddy, Edmunds, Bell, Oldham, Doughty, Browne, Ames, 
Ayrs, Nelson, Mears, Mapp, Hopkins, and Hunt. The pre- 
ceding are but a few typical Eastern Shore names. It 
would be impracticable to cite them all. 

Observe that in these large lists of names not a Mac nor an 
Irish "O" appears. Indeed, Douglas is the only name of 
Celtic origin. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 71 

After two hundred and fifty years of association with the 
social and political life of the Eastern Shore, the Notting- 
ham family continues to-day to be one of the most prominent 
families on the peninsula. Yet the name is practically un- 
known elsewhere in America. So numerous are the branches 
of this ancient family, that it has been said that one can make 
no mistake by addressing an Eastern Shoreman, if a gentle- 
man, by that name, for if it is not his own name, it will 
probably be that of a near relative ; and if he happens not to 
be a gentleman, he will be flattered. 

If we examine the lists of inhabitants and tithables given 
in preceding chapters, it will be seen that, at an early date, a 
Frenchman or two, and a few Dutchmen and Germans had 
made their appearance; and before 1650, there was an enter- 
prising Turk on the peninsula who was engaged in trade. It 
would be interesting to know if this character found his way 
into Accomack via the sea-islands where pirates and "light- 
fingered gentlemen" of all nations were wont to assemble. 

By the year 1640, the Dutch traders had found the penin- 
sula out, and a brisk trade immediately sprang up with the 
West Indies, and the Low Countries, as a result of which 
Dutch immigrants began to arrive in large numbers. We 
shall see that in 1653 there were so many natives of the Low 
Countries residing on the Eastern Shore that it was necessary 
to take steps to protect them from the hostility aroused by the 
war with Holland. In 1653, one of the most highly respected 
citizens of Northampton was Dr. George Nicholas Hacke, a 
native of Cologne. He had himself declared to be a German 
by the Court to avoid the obloquy of appearing before the 
undiscriminating citizens as a Dutchman. Some of the 
Dutch residents in 1660 were Hugh Cornelius Corneliuson, 
Hendrick Wageman, Daniel Derrickson, Peter Jacobson, 
Abram Van Slot and Abram Jensen. Many of the immi- 



72 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

grants, though Englishmen, had settled in Holland before 
coming to Virginia; and such was the case with John and 
William Custis who arrived about 1640. These people must 
have brought numbers of the Hollanders with them. To this 
day, traces of Dutch blood are to be found on the peninsula, 
and there are a few Dutch names such as Sloat from Van 
Slot, and Eeloat from Billiot. 

In view of the extensive trade with the Dutch, both in New 
Netherlands and in Holland, it is a simple matter to account 
for their presence on the Eastern Shore. Indeed, Delaware, 
but a few miles north of Accomack, was claimed by the Dutch 
and the population there was largely composed of Hollanders. 

While we search the pages of Virginia history, in vain, for 
more than a casual mention of this large foreign element of 
the Eastern Shore, and therefore of the population of the 
colony, yet there is another element, though of English ex- 
traction, which seems to have been totally neglected. It has 
long been the practise of Virginians to disregard any fact 
which seems to indicate the presence of any but cavaliers 
among their early colonists. Such an attitude is as absurd 
as the assertion by some that there were few cavaliers in the 
colony. 

If one consults the various authorities, on the great Puritan 
movement, of the early seventeenth century, which led them 
to seek new homes in America, a movement which had its 
inception in a spirit of unrest, dating back for centuries be- 
fore the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, one must see that no 
common standard to which religion should conform had been 
established among them. Close upon their final liberations 
from the conventions and toils of Europe followed a process 
of segregation into small groups among the hordes of Puri- 
tan immigrants who had braved the Atlantic and landed upon 
the inhospitable shores of New England. Years of wrangling 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 73 

among the factions followed, with the result that new settle- 
ments were established by the various discordant elements 
which branched off from the parent body. 

While the New Englanders then, were splitting up into 
groups and groping in the frozen forests of the north for new 
homes, trading-ships from the sunny south were plying to 
their ports, exchanging the grain of the older colony for the 
Cod Fish of New England, and as we shall see, in a subse- 
quent chapter, much trade was in progress between Accomack 
and New England as early as 1634. 

In 1635, the whole Massachusetts colony was agitated by 
the migration of the inhabitants of Newtown, Watertown, 
and Dorchester to the Connecticut Valley. The attempts of 
the magistrates to divert the movement proved abortive, and 
many families, dissatisfied with present conditions, went forth 
in search of fairer fields and pleasanter surroundings. 1 No 
attempt will be here made to discuss the causes which led to 
this great movement and those to follow close upon its heels. 
They are simply mentioned to call attention to the state of 
unrest of the New Englanders at this time. 2 Co-existent with 
this spirit of unrest, due to the asperities of life in New Eng- 
land, both physical and social, there was unquestionably some 
strong influence which led numbers of the Massachusetts col- 
onists farther south than the Connecticut Valley. While the 
subject is not mentioned by the authorities, 3 yet there is some- 
thing too suggestive about the appearance of such surnames 
as Cotton, Hutchinson, Charlton, Eyre, Eaton, Oldham, 
Stone, Neale, Andrews, Blackstone, How, and such christian 

Osgood's American Colonies in 17th Century, Vol. I, p. 431. 

2 Ibid. Beginnings of New England, Fiske. 

3 The Puritan in Holland, England and America, Douglas Campbell; 
Beginnings of New England, John Fiske. American Colonies in 17th 
Century, Osgood. Neale's Puritans and others. 



74 EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

names as Obedience, Nathaniel, Joane and Prudence, in the 
records of Accomack about 1632-5, or at the time of general 
disruption and migration in New England, to be dismissed 
without careful consideration. 

In the chapter on the Early Church, we shall see that Na- 
thaniel Eaton, the first principal of Harvard College, fled to 
Accomack from Massachusetts. John Gookin, who sat as one 
of the arbitrators in a dispute between Eaton and the Rev. 
Mr. Rozier, was the brother or uncle of Daniel Gookin, buried 
in the Cambridge graveyard, and John Congan or Cogan, who 
brought suit against Eaton in 1646, was from Boston. 1 Cap- 
tain John Stone, who behaved so badly at Boston and 
Plymouth, and was killed on the Connecticut River while 
returning to Virginia, had an estate on Hungar's Creek in 
Northampton County. He was the father of William Stone 
of Northampton, who became Governor of Maryland. On 
September 15, 1634, Parson Cotton made complaint to the 
court that the administrator of Captain Stone had declined 
to pay back tithes due the minister, thus proving that Stone 
had lived on the peninsula. As early as 1619, a small party 
of English Puritans had come over to Virginia; and says 
Charles Campbell, a larger number would have followed 
them had they not been prevented by a royal proclamation. 
In 1642 a deputation was sent from some Virginia dissenters 
to Boston, soliciting a supply of pastors from New England 
churches, and three clergymen were sent with letters of 
recommendation to Sir William Berkeley. While these mis- 
sionary preachers were not supported by the government, yet 
it is quite certain that they influenced numbers from their 
New England folds to follow them to Virginia. 

*New England Genealogical Register, Vol. XL, p. 294. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 75 

Many of the early decrees of the peninsula courts, espe- 
cially the sentences imposed upon the liar, scandal-monger, 
the drunkard and the petty thief, breathe a spirit of puri- 
tanical harshness unlike anything in other parts of the colony, 
and in the stern character of the early justices there was 
much of the New England severity. Obedience Robins and 
Stephen Charlton, early justices of Accomack, typified, both 
in name and character, the Massachusetts Puritan. It is 
worthy of note that one of the earliest towns in New England 
was named Charlton, a name which appears nowhere else in 
Virginia except on the Eastern Shore. Obedience Robins, a 
supposed cavalier with a puritanical name, has long presented 
a puzzling question. In spite of the fact that his sympathies 
were with the cavaliers, it seems highly probable that he 
received his name from a Pilgrim father. Indeed, royalist 
tendencies on his part may have been the very cause which 
led him to the more congenial quarter of Virginia. 

When we come, therefore, to trace the origin of our 
Eastern Shore colonists, while we should not dogmatically 
state as a matter of fact that many of them came from New 
England, yet we should bear in mind the strong evidence 
that points in that direction. The very fact that the 
peninsula was so far removed from the antagonistic atmos- 
phere of James City, would have rendered it the most desir- 
able part of the colony for the Puritans of a more liberal 
order to settle in. 1 To the remote shores of Accomack, 
where a population of a different sentiment was as yet scanty 
and where slight connection with the other parts of the colony 
existed ; there, where the richest lands remained untenanted, 
where trade, ever attractive to the Puritan element, was 

x For cavaliers in New England, see New France and New England, 
Fiske. 



76 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

already prospering, where religious freedom might be en- 
joyed, the New England renegades would naturally look for 
a new home. The traders, the seamen, the merchants, who 
had established and maintained intercourse with New 
England, were the very ones who would most quickly per- 
ceive the contrast between the rigours of New England life 
and the freedom of Accomack, and it was due to their 
influence, no doubt, that many of the restive settlers of the 
north sought the southern clime. Indeed, as the adventurous 
fishermen of the New England coasts followed the schools 
of blue-fish south, in the spring, to the shores of Accomack, 
just as the Plymouth fleet does to-day, what could have been 
more natural than that they should have landed upon the 
peninsula to fill their water casks and replenish their 
supplies of food V And after the rigours of winter at home, 
how delightful to them must have seemed this favored land 
where no treacherous headlands jutted far out into the sea 
nor jagged rocks concealed their heads among the foaming 
waves ! What sunny tales of peace and plenty, of ease and 
wealth, must they have carried back to New England, where 
the, savage cry of the Indian reverberated through the frozen 
forest and barren fields of winter, warning the settlers of an 
ever present menace; of massacre, of the relentless murder 
of their loved ones. In such circumstances, what could have 
been more natural than that Massachusetts should have sent 
her sons to people the domains of Virginia ? 

1 The first governor of the Massachusetts Colony was Matthew 
Cradock, who owned fishing vessels and was active in the fish industry. 
It is possible, therefore, that there may be some connection between 
Cradock's Neck and Matthew Cradock. The name, spelt with a single 
"d", appears nowhere else in Virginia. Matt how Cradock died in 1644, 
leaving descendants in Boston. Cradock's Creek would have supplied a 
_good harbor for his vessels. 



EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 77 

Now let us examine the character of the early Eastern 
Shoreman. It was only recently that a distinguished scholar 
remarked in conversation with the author, "I know not the 
cause, but one thing is certain: the Eastern Shoreman is 
different from other Virginians." This remark but voices 
the general verdict. If unlike his brothers now, how much 
more marked was the dissimilarity in the seventeenth 
century. His history bears abundant testimony to this truth, 
and in the light of uncovered facts, let us say with Douglas 
Campbell, that in the Dutch influence lies the solution of the 
problem. That eminent scholar has contributed to the world 
the true introduction to American history and explained 
away many of the mysteries which enshrouded the pioneers 
of our Country. Without a proper appreciation of his argu- 
ment no man may hope to understand the American character 
and the institutions of the new world. Let us read at length 
from the preface of his work: 

"Many persons besides Carlyle have probably wished for 
a history of English Puritanism. But this Heroism, like 
that of the making of the United States, will remain unex- 
plained and unintelligible just so long as it is looked upon 
as a mere chapter of English history, and not as an outcome 
or continuation of that great Continental movement, intel- 
lectual and spiritual, which, in the sixteenth century, revo- 
lutionized the world. Neither can be understood, unless we 
recognize the true intellectual, moral, and religious condition 
of the English people, out of which their Puritanism, with 
all its faults and virtues, was evolved, and appreciate the 
influence which must have been exerted upon such a people 
by the close proximity of a republic the leader of the world 
by at least a century in agriculture, commerce, and manu- 
factures, and by more than two centuries in all ideas relating 
to civil and religious liberty. 



78 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

"To the American this appreciation should not be a task 
of difficult j if he enters upon the subject with a mind free 
of prejudice. He has seen how, in his own time, the 
existence of the American Republic has effected the people 
of Central and South America, and how its influence has 
been exerted even across the ocean upon the nations of 
Continental Europe. He, therefore, of all others, should be 
capable of understanding how the Dutch Republic must have 
affected those heroic men in England and America who, in 
their newly awakened intellectual life, were trying to break 
the shackles of civil and religious tyranny. 

"Writing the History of English Puritanism without an 
allusion to this influence is much like writing the early 
history of England without referring to the ideas brought in 
by the iSTornian conquerors, or a history of the Renaissance 
in Italy without mentioning the influence of the classic 
authors of Greece. But in the case of America and its 
Puritans even these comparisons are inadequate. Another 
illustration will, perhaps, be more apposite. 

"Let the reader imagine that Japan, instead of sending a 
few score of students to the United States, had sent over 
many thousand families, and had kept five or six thousand 
soldiers in our army for some forty years; and that during 
the same period a hundred thousand Americans had settled 
in Japan itself. Imagine, further, that at the end of the 
forty years a number of the Japanese settlers in America had 
started out to found a colony in some newly discovered land, 
and that there had been added to their ranks a large number 
of Americans and some twenty thousand other Japanese, 
some of whom had lived in America, and most of the others 
going from sections in which Americans had been living for 
many years. These colonists found a mighty state, whose 
people speak Japanese, but have almost no Japanese institu- 
tions, having established a republic, and copied their institu- 
tions mainly from the United States. The writer who after 
two centuries should sit down to compose a history of this 
new republic, and, omitting all reference to the United States, 
credit these settlers with the invention of their un-Japanese 



EASTEEN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 79 

institutions, would be simply following the example of the 
English, and most of the American authors who have written 
of America and her institutions." 1 

What Campbell has written concerning America applies 
with peculiar force to the Eastern Shore of Virginia, for 
we must not only remember the large numbers of the Dutch 
actually settled upon the peninsula, but the territorial 
proximity of and the daily intercourse with New Nether- 
land|. Then again, we must consider the probability that 
large numbers of the early colonists of Accomack, even though 
English, came from New England and Holland, already 
subject to the Puritan and the Dutch influence. 

In a subsequent chapter it will be shown that while 
religion was established by the most rigid laws in the parishes 
on the western shore, yet on the peninsula the liberty of 
conscience was such that the Anglican, the Calvinist of New 
England, and the Reformed Churchman of Holland, wor- 
shipped side by side, not only under a common roof but 
guided in their spiritual groping by Puritans, dissenters, 
non-conformists. And further, it will be shown that condi- 
tions were such as to offer a foothold for the first Quakers 
in Virginia, soon to be followed by the father of Presby- 
terianism in America. 2 Indeed, our little land beyond the 
water was in the eyes of the western shoreman a hotbed of 
religious heretics and free thinkers. It is, then, small wonder 
that the character of the people was moulded along different 
lines from that of the church-ridden Episcopalians across 
the bay. 

It has long been the custom of the Eastern Shoreman to 
hold out with pride to the world the fact of his unadulterated 

1 The Puritan in Holland, England and America, Douglas Campbell, 
Volume I. 

2 Early Church. 



80 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

English blood. Although, even in the upper classes, the 
admixture of Dutch blood must have been great during the 
seventeenth century, we are not prepared to deny an over- 
whelming preponderance of the Anglo-Saxon strain. The 
love of the mother country is an inheritance to all Vir- 
ginians, but, however admirable their pride of descent may 
be, let not the Eastern Shoreman be blinded by affection, for 
to Holland he clearly owes the individuality of his early 
character, an individuality still marked. 



VII 

The County or Shire of Accawmack. Kent Island 

When the Colony was divided into counties or shires in 
1634, the population of the Eastern Shore was sufficiently 
large to entitle it to become one of the original eight shires, 
which were James City, Henrico, Charles City, Elizabeth 
City, Warwick River, Warrosquyoake, Charles River and 
Accomack. 1 The old commanders of hundreds gave way to 
the new officers, a Lieutenant for each shire, "to take care of 
the war against the Indians" and to provide for the defense 
of the shire. The government of the shires was to be the 
same as in England, and sheriffs, sergeants and bailiffs were 
to be elected. The jurisdiction of the commissioners was 
enlarged from five-pound to ten-pound causes, and one of 
the council was to attend and assist at each Court. 2 

The population of Accomack now numbered three hundred 
and ninety-six whites, a rapid increase (when we consider 
the total number of inhabitants in the Colony), during the 
twenty years from the time when Dale's Gift was established.* 

When Captain Edmund Scarburgh, as Justice of the 
Peace, opened the first court of Accawmacke, The Laughing 
King had no doubt ceased to laugh ; the humor of his situa- 
tion as King of the peninsula was too subtle for his native 
wit, for he, like many another Savage chief before him, had 
by this time felt the fangs of the British bull-dog sink deep 

Veiling, Vol. I, p. 224. 

2 Ibid. 

"Virginia Carolorum, Neill. 

81 



82 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

into the vitals of his kingdom, and had become sensible of 
the fact that it was a grip which once fastened upon the 
prey never relaxed its hold. 1 

The great popularity of the Accomac peninsula is strik- 
ingly attested by the increase of population between 1634 
and 1643, for in those nine years there was a gain of over 
six hundred inhabitants, making a total population for the 
latter year of about one thousand for the Eastern Shore as 
compared to a population of not more than fifteen thousand 
for the entire Colony. The rapid increase of the population 
of the Eastern Shore from 1634 on may be explained in a 
measure by the fact that in 1638-9 the General Assembly 
adopted a regulation that a tax of six pence per capita should 
be levied on passengers arriving at Point Comfort, the port 
of entry of the western shore, but excepted the Eastern 
Shore from the scope of the act. 2 The act was repealed 
later on, but in the meantime the authorities of Accawmacke 
made the most of their exemption, and incoming ships with 
fresh supplies of colonists were encouraged to land their 
cargoes on the free shores of the peninsula. The tax was 
small, it is true, but it was a tax nevertheless, and the immi- 
grants, who had left their British homes to seek fortune and 
freedom in the New World, did not fail to see the advan- 
tages enjoyed by the isolated Accomack country, which 
escaped many other stringencies by being so far removed 
from the authorities at Jamestown. Indeed Accawmacke 
was known to the ship-masters and seamen of the time as an 
almost independent colony, for it was a difficult reach for 
the arm of the law from Jamestown across the Bay. There 

'End of an Era, Wise. 

2 Bruce's Economic History of Va., Vol. I, p. fi31. Hening, Vol. I, 
p. 246. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 83 

were also certain provisions in the Act of 1642 1 as to trade 
exemptions on the part of the Eastern Shore leading to freer 
traffic between the people of the peninsula and foreign ports, 
and these naturally encouraged immigration. The people 
of the peninsula, while favored in many ways by its remote- 
ness, were subjected thereby to some inconveniences. For 
instance, on February 20, 1640-41, on account of the great 
distance of Accomack from James City, it was enacted that 
the local Commander and Commissioners should have power 
to determine all causes between the inhabitants of the 
peninsula when the amount in controversy did not exceed 
the sum of twenty pounds sterling or four hundred pounds 
of tobacco, provided Argoll Yeardley and Nathaniel Little- 
ton, Esquire, or either of them, was present. 2 It was well 
enough to give the court such large jurisdiction, and this act 
in itself really saved litigants much inconvenience and 
expense, but shortly thereafter it was provided by the 
assembly that in view of the remoteness of the peninsula 
from James City, no appeal should lie from the decision of 
the local court to the Quarter Court if the amount in con- 
troversy were under thirty-two hundred pounds of tobacco 
or thirty pounds sterling. 3 This act put the people more in 
the power of their Justices than were the people of the other 
parts of the Colony. It also explains in great measure the 
dignity and respect which the office of Justice carried with 
it on the Eastern Shore. 

During the years 1634-7 many of the founders of the 
influential Eastern Shore families migrated to the peninsula. 

^ening, Vol. I, p. 246. 

'Decision of Va. Genl. Court Va. Mag. of Hist, and Biography, Vol. 
IV, p. 367. 

"Hening, Vol. I, p. 520. 



84 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

Already the Searburghs had settled there. Colonel Robins 
was seated at "Cherrystone," and Captain Argoll Yeardley, 
the son of Governor George Yeardley, had established him- 
self nt Matrawaman, upon the paternal lands. The Savages 
of "Savages Keck" had become old residents. In 1634, 
Nicholas Harwood, a cooper, patented 50 acres in the lower 
end of the peninsula. In 1635, Charles Harmer patented 
1,050 acres near Old Plantation Creek and brought with 
him his wife and nineteen servants. 1 William Berriman 
patented 150 acres on Old Plantation Creek, known as 
"Fishing Point Neck," and Daniel Cugley, 400 acres called 
"The Hog Pen Neck," both in 1635. Francis Stockley and 
Henry Wilson each patented 50 acres along Old Plantation 
Creek, and John Neale 1,500 acres along the seaside in 
1636. The same year he received a grant of 500 acres on 
Smith's Island. Other patentees of 1636 were : William 
Melling, 100 acres at the head of Old Plantation Creek: 
James Berry, 350 acres along Magothy Bay ; John Forbush, 
100 acres on the Bayside; Thomas Smith, 160 acres near 
the land of William Berryman on Fishing Point Neck ; and 
William Bibby, 400 acres on the north side of King's Creek. 
One of the largest grants of the year in Accomack was that 
of 1,300 acres to John Wilkins, of which 50 acres were due 
for his own personal adventure, and the remainder for the 
transportation of twenty-five other persons, rated as servants, 
one of whom was a negro. 

It should be understood that it was a common practice 
for an immigrant to bring a number of other persons to 
Virginia at his expense in order to secure their head rights 
or the fifty acres allotted to each new comer. It is not safe, 

'Neill's Virginia Carolorum. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 85 

therefore, to judge of a man's station or wealth by the 
number of persons set down in his retinue as servants. The 
following year, Edmund Scarburgh patented 200 acres on 
Magothy Bay, and William Cotton, the successor of the 
Rev. Mr. Bolton, 350 acres between the horns of Hungar's 
Creek. The largest land holders at the time were the Scar- 
burghs and, since we are to meet with their name so fre- 
quently, and it has confused certain historians, it will be 
well to have some knowledge of the family. 

Captain Edmund Scarburgh, the immigrant from Norfolk, 
and the father of the famous Colonel Edmund Scarburgh, 
was one of the Justices of the first Accomac Court in 1631-2. 
He settled on the Eastern Shore at an early date ; probably 
about 1628 to 1630. He represented Accomac in the 
Assemblies of 1629, 1631 and 1632, and died in 1635. His 
son Edmund patented vast tracts of land and they both held 
the highest offices in the gift of their people. Colonel Ed- 
mund Scarburgh's brother was Sir Charles Scarburgh, 
physician to Charles II, James II, and King William. He 
was knighted in 1669 and was also a member of Parliament. 
Colonel Edmund was a member of the House of Burgesse3 
in 1642, 1644, 1645, 1647, 1652, and 1659, and from 1660 
to 1671; Speaker of the House in 1645; Justice of North- 
ampton; Sheriff in 1660 and 1661; appointed Surveyor 
General of Virginia in 1655, and held the office during life. 1 

Scarburgh's immunity from substantial punishment by the Colonial 
authorities on many occasions was undoubtedly due in large measure to 
his great influence at the Court of St. James where his brother Charles 
stood high in the good graces of the king. While the records show that 
he served as Surveyor General from 1655, it does not appear that he 
was regularly commissioned until 1666. The following is a copy of his 
commission: 

"Warrant from the King to Edward Earl of Clarendon, Lord Chan- 
cellor to cause Letters Patents under the Great Seal to be passed to the 
following effect: — The King grants to Edmund Scarburgh the Office 



86 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

He was a warm-hearted, fearless, pugnacious, enterprising 
man, highly educated, and the equal of any Virginian of his 
day as a soldier, scholar, or useful citizen. He died about 
1671. His eldest son, Colonel Charles Scar burgh, was also 
the proprietor of much land, owning three thousand and fifty 
acres en Pungoteague Creek alone, in 1652. He was a mem- 
ber of the House of Burgesses in 1688 and also in other 
years; and of the Council from 1691 until his death. In 
1692, he was Councillor, Collector of the Eastern Shore, 
Naval Officer of the same, and Commander-in-Chief of 
A<( omac, and presiding Justice of that County. He married 
the daughter of Governor Bennett, and died in 1703, leaving 
a number of sons, who were nearly as prominent as their 
father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. This much con- 
cerning the Scarburghs has not been given by way of family 
history, but in order that the reader may appreciate the great 
influence of the family, a family of almost feudal powers. 
The frequent appearance of the name Scarburgh in the 
following pages will now be better understood, for it is in- 
separably interwoven with the history of the Eastern Shore. 
Of this family, Colonel Edmund Scarburgh was probably 
the most prominent member. There are many traditions 
concerning him and he was early named "Conjurer" by the 
Indians who greatly feared him. The court records abound 
in references to this unscrupulous man. His charges against 
the Rev. Mr. Teackle, the rector of old Saint George's 
Church, are there for one item; his share in the family 



and Place of his Maj. Surveyor General of the Plantation of Virginia, 
with all the fees profits and advantages thereunto belonging and the 
rewith heretofore usually received and enjoyed. (Privy Seals 19 Chas. 
II, No. 366.)" 

For copy of this commission see Virginia Magazine of History and 
Biography, Vol. XVII. p. 292. Sainsbury Abstracts. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 87 

troubles, which is said to have occasioned the name of "Slut- 
kill Neck," is another. 1 It is said that some Indians who 
lived near his estate had been stealing his sheep, hogs and 
cattle, for some time. After vain attempts to detect the 
thieves, he decided to break up the practice. He thereupon 
sent a messenger to the surrounding Indians to tell them 
that the Great Spirit would preach them a sermon if they 
would gather in a certain ditch on Scarburgh's Neck, upon 
the following Sunday morning. When the Indians, who 
feared to disobey the "Conjurer," assembled as directed, 
Scarburgh fired a great cannon loaded with shot which he 
had concealed at the other end of the ditch, and the Great 
Spirit spoke so forcibly unto the natives that but few re- 
mained alive after his introductory remarks. 2 

The remains of Hedric Cottage, Scarburgh's home, still 
stand on the north side of Occahannock Creek. The neck of 
land included between this creek and Cradock's Creek to the 
north is called Scarburgh's Neck to this day. Hedric 
Cottage is almost opposite the present Concord Wharf. It 
was at this point where Scarburgh's storehouses, shoe-factory, 
malt-house, and other plants were located. 

John Wise, of Devonshire, the progenitor of the Wise 
family in Virginia, sailed, according to Hotten, from 
Gravesend in the ship Transport, bound for Virginia, July 
4, 1635, and settled on the Eastern Shore. He was a mere 
youth when he arrived in Accomac, but soon married 
Hannah, the daughter of Captain Edmund Scarburgh, and 
from him five consecutive generations of John Wises de- 

'Said by some authorities to be named after one Sleuthkill, who 
owned property on the neck of land. This is a more reasonable explana- 
tion of the name. 

2 Address of late T. T. Upshur, Va. Mag. of History and Biography, 
Vol. IX, p. 95. (This is a familiar tradition on the Eastern Shore.) 



88 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

scended, each in turn occupying high positions among their 
people. The immigrant purchased one thousand acres of 
land lying along Chesconnessex and Onancock Creeks, from 
Ekeeks, the Onancock King. This tract, with other land 
added thereto, was known for many years as the Dutch 
Blanket tract, by reason of the fact that the consideration 
named in the deed was seven Dutch Blankets. 1 Out of this 
tract were carved the two family estates of Clifton and Fort 
George on Chesconnessex Creek; and there lived the Wises 
during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Most of 
them were both planters and lawyers, three, including the 
immigrant, being Justices of the Accomac Courts. The will 
of the first John Wise, who was a very pious man, is recorded 
in the Court of Accomac, and is a curious instrument, the 
greater portion of which is devoted to the disposition of his 
"Imortal Soul." 2 He is said to have been a man of great 
ability, indomitable energy, dauntless courage and strict 
integrity. 3 Judging from the trade which he made with 
King Ekeeks, he must have been something of a business man 
as well, and his religion evidently did not interfere with his 
land transactions. 

The same year Colonel Nathaniel Littleton, a scion of the 
famous Shropshire family of that name, came to Accomac 
and took up land along Nandua Creek. He was the son of 
Sir Edward Littleton, the brother of the Lord Chief Justice, 
and the father of Colonel Southey Littleton of Accomac. 
From this early date, the Littletons have been one of the most 
influential families on the Eastern Shore. Colonel Nathaniel 
Littleton was Chief Magistrate of Accomac in 1640 and a 
Burgess in 1652. 

1 Accomac Records, 1668. 
2 Accomac Records, 1695. 
"Virginia Hist. Collect,, Vol. XI, p. 188. 



EASTEEN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 89 

Another early settler in Accornac and progenitor of a dis- 
tinguished line of descendants, was Edmund Bowman, an 
English gentleman of wealth and position. He also, like 
John Wise, was a Justice of Accornac in 1663, after the 
peninsula had been divided into two counties. Captain, 
afterwards Major Bowman, settled upon Folly Creek, which 
flows into Metomkin Inlet on the seaside, and built the first 
of the famous old mansions known as "Bowman's Folly." He 
was sheriff and a Burgess of Accornac. One of his daughters 
married Colonel Southey Littleton, and another married 
John Cropper, a young Scotchman, and also one of the first 
settlers. His son, Sebastian Cropper, married the daughter 
of Peter Parker. Bowman's Folly passed to their son Bow- 
man, and from him to his son Sebastian, Jr., who married a 
daughter of Colonel Coventon Corbin of Chingoteague, one 
of the most prominent men of his time. For a sketch of the 
Parkers the reader must consult the various genealogical 
records. The foregoing history of the various families has 
been given merely to show how constantly the early landed 
gentry intermarried, thereby sustaining their prestige and 
augmenting their power among the people of the peninsula. 
The Scarburghs, Yeardleys, Wises, Bowmans, Eyres, Cor- 
bins, Upshurs, Wests, Littletons, Parkers, Croppers, Baylys, 
Joyneses, Custises, and a number of others, comprised an 
isolated aristocracy in the early seventeenth century, whicfy 
perpetuated itself for years with no appreciable admixture 
of outside blood, and their names will be frequently met 
with from now on, as it was from their ranks that the leaders 
and officers of the Eastern Shore were taken. 

During the years 1627, 1628 and 1629, the governors of 
Virginia gave authority to William Clayborne, who was 
Secretary of State of the Colony, and a Justice of Accornac 



90 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

in 1632, to explore the Chesapeake Bay and any part of the 
country from 34° to the 41° of North Latitude, which 
authority was confirmed by Charles I, in 1631. Being also 
authorized to establish trade, Claybome established a port 
on Kent Island in the Chesapeake Bay. The settlement 
flourished from the first, and by 1632 the population was 
sufficiently large to entitle it to a Burgess; and in 1632 a 
warehouse was established in Southampton River for the 
inhabitants of Kent Island, Accomac, Elizabeth City, and 
Mary's Mount. It must be understood that up to the time of 
the grant to Baltimore, the enterprising whites who had 
pushed up into the present Maryland country, east of the 
Chesapeake, were considered to be Accomackians. They 
were principally Indian traders and fur dealers, and their 
settlements springing up to the north of the Pocomoke exer- 
cised much influence upon the settlement of the northern 
part of Accomac. 

Soon after the port at Kent Island was established, the 
King, on June 20, 1632, confirmed the patent to Cecilius, 
Baron of Baltimore, which he had promised to the elder 
Lord, his father. The new province created from the terri- 
tory of Virginia was named Maryland. The grant to Lord 
Baltimore very naturally aggrieved the Virginians and led 
to serious remonstrance on their part and an appeal to the 
King in 1633. The Star Chamber decided to allow Balti- 
more to retain his patent, recommending friendly intercourse 
between the people of the two colonies, pending a decision 
in the controversy. Clayborne, however, refused to surrender 
his claim to Kent Island, or to recognize the authorities of 
Maryland. 

In 1634, Leonard Calvert, the brother of Lord Baltimore, 
with about twenty gentlemen and two or three hundred 



EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTOEY 91 

colonists, most of them Catholics, reached Maryland. At a 
meeting of the Governor and Council of Virginia, in the 
following March, Clayborne sought for instructions as to 
Kent Island and was informed that since the controversy 
over the grant had not yet been determined, it was their duty 
to protect the territory of Virginia, but at the same time to 
remain on good terms with the Marylanders, if possible. 

Clayborne's subsequent resistance to the newcomers and 
the rising hostility of the Indians, which they attributed to 
his influence, led to an order for his arrest, and open hos- 
tilities commenced. < 

The goods of a trader named Harmon were seized, and a 
pinnace called the "Long Tail" belonging to Clayborne was 
captured by the Marylanders. Clayborne then sent a vessel 
with an armed crew of thirteen, under command of Lieu- 
tenant Ratcliffe Warren, to recapture his vessel. On April 
23, 1634, Lieutenant Warren met Captain Cornwallis in 
command of two pinnaces, the St. Margaret and St. Helen,, 
and thereupon the first naval fight to occur in American 
waters between the colonists and representatives of British 
Authority took place at the mouth of the Pocomoke River, 
which was then considered to be in the Kingdom of Accaw- 
macke. This struggle was the precursor of many others in 
the following century. In this small but significant affair, 
Warren and two of his men were killed, and several days 
later Cornwallis captured Thomas Smith of Kent Island, 
who was tried for piracy and sentenced to be hung. 

When the people of Virginia learned that Harvey, their 
governor, approved the action of the Marylanders, great 
excitement prevailed among them. A public meeting was 
called at Yorktown, and an Assembly was summoned to meet 
on the 7th of May, 1635, to hear complaints against Governor 



92 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

Harvey, who, it seems, was guilty of many other offenses 
against the people. On the 28th of April, 1635, before the 
Assembly convened, the Council took matters in their own 
hands and deposed the Governor, who had consented to stand 
trial in England; and thereupon Captain John West, a 
brother of Lord Delaware, was chosen acting Governor. 

While the examination of Harvey was proceeding in 
England, Clayborne, who had been attainted, and whose 
property had been confiscated by Calvert, remained in un- 
disturbed possession of Kent Island, until 1637, when he 
too repaired to England, where the Commissioners of Planta- 
tions reported the right and title to the Isle of Kent to be 
absolutely invested in him. But Harvey returned to Vir- 
ginia as Governor in 1636; and in April, 1639, the author- 
ities in England finally decided the controversy between 
Clayborne and Lord Baltimore, against the former, who re- 
turned to Virginia and sought in vain to recover the property 
of which he had been despoiled. 1 

The dispute over this territory was the beginning of a long- 
drawn-out boundary controversy between Virginia and Mary- 
land which deeply concerned the Eastern Shore, and which 
led to repeated difficulties between the people of the two 
colonies living in that quarter. Clayborne himself owned 
land in Accomac, and many of the men who adhered to his 
standard in the Kent Island affair were residents of the 
county, as for instance Philip Taylor, who was Clayborne's 
chief lieutenant. The letter of Marque and Reprisal issued 
to Taylor by Clayborne was probably the first instrument of 
the kind issued in America. The text follows : 



founders of Maryland, Neill. 

Chalmer's Annals. 

Campbell's History of Virginia. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 93 

"Philip Taylor, I understand yt the Marylanders have 
taken my Pinnyce the Longe Tayle, with her company, and 
some other of my men trading in other places, Now Whereas 
his maties Commission to myself e warranteth me in trade 
with the natives and for as much alsoe as his Maties Gracious 
Lord in America doe declare his expresse pleasure and con- 
trary to justice and true intent of his Maties grant to ye Lord 
Baltimore These are to desire you, that you, would with the 
first opportunity, with such company as are appoynted for 
you, sett sayle to Patawmack and Patuxant Rivers or else- 
where, and to demand of them my sd. Pinnace and men : and 
if you can obtaine them take possession of them for my use 
and bring them again unto this place, or missing of them, 
may stay of such boates of theirs as you can light on. 
Wherein I beseech you proceede without violence unless yt 
bee in lawful necessary defence of your selfe, especially 
alsoe to avoyd any bloodshed or making any assault upon 
any of them and to this end I require all your company to 
be obedyent and assistant unto you as if I were there myselfe. 
Given at the Isle of Kent under my hand and seale this 
Eleventh day of May Anno Die 1635. 

"W. Claiborne. Seal. 

"Record decimo quinto die mensis July, 1642." 1 

In 1637, there seems to have been a strong tendency on 
the part of the inhabitants to move to Maryland. Baltimore 
was offering every inducement to draw people to his settle- 
ments and fabulous tales were spread concerning the liberties 
and great wealth of the new country to the north. In other 
words, there was a "land boom" going on in Maryland ; rich 
and poor alike deserted their old homes in quest of "easy" 
wealth. As a result, numbers of the poorer people lost not 
only what land they had acquired in Accomack, but all their 
savings, in a vain search for the elusive gold of the boomers. 

'Northampton County Records. 



94 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

Such a condition led the Court to prohibit both freemen, 
servants and any other persons to depart from the plantation 
of Accomack without the Assembly license of Captain John 
Howe, the Commander. The excitement soon passed over, 
but recurred in 1648, as we shall see later. 

In 1638, the first deed was recorded, the parties thereto 
being Edmund Scarburgh and Esquire Littleton, and in 
September, 1640, orders came from James City for all land 
patents and bounds of land to be sent to the seat of govern- 
ment. The King's rent of land was one shilling for fifty 
acres. The same year, the first license to keep an ordinary 
was granted to Anthony Hoskins. Dame Elizabeth Dale's 
will was registered and the first Bill of Exchange was 

recorded and was drawn on of Amsterdam, Holland, 

in favor of Wm. Douglas & Company, for forty pounds 
sterling. Argoll Yeardley employed Edmund Scarburgh to 
survey his father's land at Mattawaman creek. 1 

The first election on the Eastern Shore was held at the 
Sheriff's House, February 15, 1636, and the first real repre- 
sentatives of the people of the peninsula were John Howe 
or How, and William Roper, the Burgesses chosen at this 
election. John Howe had already been a Burgess in 1631-2, 
1632, 1632-3. The salary paid Howe and Roper as legis- 
lators was 1,500 pounds of tobacco. 

Tobacco had already become the staple crop ; much ship- 
building was going on ; a profitable fur trade with the 
natives was in progress, and the population was growing 
rapidly. So great was the demand for tobacco, that, in 
1639, it was thought necessary to appoint experienced men 
of high standing in the community to inspect the consign- 

^rom the Court Records of Northampton. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 95 

ments to the warehouses and see that certain provisions of 
the Assembly were carried out. 1 The peninsula was there- 
fore divided into tobacco inspection districts, and the official 
viewers appointed were as follows : 

"For Hungars: Captain Wm. Stone, Armstrong Foster, 
John Major. 

From Mr. Cugley to the King's Creek: Mr. William 
Andrews, John Webster, James Barnaby. 

From the King's Creek to the Old Plantation Creek on 
that side : Captain Wm. Roper, Elias Hastue, Jonathan 
Gibbs. 

From Mr. Neale's upwards to Mr. Littleton's : Mr. Nathan 
Littleton, Luke Stubbins, Henry Weede. 

From Mr. Littleton's and all on that side : Mr. Wm. Bur- 
dett, Henry Bagwell, William Berryman." 2 

Such records throw much light on the character of the 
times, and from them we can see that affairs were rapidly 
becoming settled ; the way was being prepared for an exten- 
sive intercourse with the outer world, and the transition 
from a state of savagery to civilization had appreciably 
progressed by the year 1642. 

*See Subject of Tobacco in subsequent chapter. 

2 Acts of Assembly, 1639, Robinson, M. S., Va. Mag. of History and 
Biography, Vol. V, pp. 339, 340. 



VIII 

Noiri uampton County. Indian Scares. Stone in 
Maryland 

In 1642, Sir William Berkeley became Governor of 
Virginia. Among the many salutary measures which he 
inaugurated was the division of many of the existing 
counties, thus reducing the vast areas over which the county 
organizations were supposed to extend their control. The 
peninsula was not yet to be divided into two counties, but 
the distinguished and ambitious Colonel Obedience Robins, 
of Cherrytone, took advantage of the general shake up and 
secured the passage of the following Act on March 18, 1642 : 

"Be it further enacted and informed that the plantation 
and county known as Achomack shall be knowne and called 
by the county of North'ton." 1 

Colonel Robins was from Longbuckie, Northamptonshire, 
England, and it has been frequently stated that he had the 
whole peninsula named after the county in England from 
which he came. 2 He was one of the most influential citizens 
of his time, representing Accomac in the Assembly during 
the years 1629-30, 1639 and 1642; three times a Justice 
and owner of 2,000 3 acres on Cheriton Creek, and while it 
is true that he secured the Act changing the county name 

'Act XIII, Hening, Vol. I, p. 249. North'ton was the abbreviated 
form of Northampton. 

'Virginia County Names, Long, p. 66. 
'Patented in 1640. 

96 



EASTEBN SHOEE OF VIEGINIA HISTOEY 97 

to the name of his home shire, we must attribute a higher 
motive to him in so doing than the gratification of mere 
personal conceit. Shortly after the time at which the change 
of name was effected, the brave royalist, Spencer Compton, 
second Earl of Northampton, at the head of the King's 
troops, gave his life to the royal cause, on Hopton Heath, 
March 19, 1643. He had been a devoted partisan of 
Charles I and the loyal Virginians worshipped his name. 
Even before his death, the naming of a Virginia County 
after him was but an expression of their attachment and 
loyalty to the royal cause. 1 This certainly seems to explain 
the change satisfactorily, a change which had evidently been 
contemplated for several years, for mention of Northampton 
appears in the records as early as 1640. 2 The name Acco- 
mack had become too familiar to the distant Virginians 
along the James River to be given up very easily by them, 
and to the present day, the entire Eastern Shore country is 
frequently referred to as Accomack. 

The first court, after the change of name, was held on the 
18th day of July, 1642. 3 The Justices present were Argoll 
Yeardley, Esq., Commander, etc. : 

Col. Obedience Robins William Andrews 

Capt. William Roper Philip Taylor 

John Wilkins Edward Douglas 

At the first sitting of the court, a certificate was granted 
to Win. Waters, son and heir of Lieutenant Edward Waters, 
in which it is stated that three men were killed at the 



Wa. County Names, Long, p. 66. 
Northampton County Records (Accomac), 1640. 
3 Accomac County Records, Vol. 1640-1645, p. 152. (Va. State 
Library. ) 



98 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

massacre and four men and a maid were cast away in the 
Bay. Sheriff Taylor was empowered to take a company of 
men with arms and ammunition and go to an Indian Town 
named Ginguhcloust, to do what should appear best for 
the welfare of the county. 1 The people of the Eastern 
Shore seem to have had some fear that the spirit of restless- 
ness and disaffection, among the natives of the Western 
Shore, was spreading to the Accomac Indians, for during 
the preceding year an order was published prohibiting per- 
sons from leaving their homes or plantations without arms 
and ammunition. Early in 1643 an order came from Sir 
William Berkeley appointing Captain Francis Yeardley 
("inmander of the troops of Accomack, with orders for train- 
ing his men. The territory under his command extended 
from the lower side of Hungar's Creek to King's Creek, and 
along the bay shore. This was the most thickly inhabited 
portion of the peninsula at the time, and the only area in 
which anything resembling a "settlement" was to be found. 
There were no towns nor even villages. A few dwelling 
houses, a small ship-chandler's store, a tobacco warehouse, all 
clustered about the public wharf — of which there was one, 
as a rule, on each navigable creek — comprised the centers of 
trade and intercourse between the scattered planters. It is 
true that farm after farm was being taken up and improved, 
even in the northern portion of the county, but the county 
organization and government as such were inadequate to 
reach the confines of the peninsula. The governmental 
energy was expended almost entirely upon the thickly settled 
area before mentioned. In fact the great planters, who es- 
tablished themselves along Occahannock, Cradock, Nandua, 



'Ibid. 



EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 99 

Pungoteague and Onancock Creeks on the bayside, and at 
Matomkin, Watchapreague and Machipungo Inlets, and 
along Magothy Bay and Bullocks Channel on the seaside, 
resented the interference of the court and the county officials. 
They were a law unto themselves, ruling their tenants and 
conducting their affairs in a primitive though generally a 
just manner. Tobacco and corn were their main crops, and 
tobacco and beaver skins were the commodities that corre- 
sponded to our silver and gold. All taxes, fines, and busi- 
ness transactions, except those of a very large amount, were 
based upon these commodities. Occasionally sterling money 
was used. 

Although the peninsula was re-christened in 1642, the 
Court of Northampton was not established until the follow- 
ing year; hence we discover some confusion as to the date 
of the change, and we also find in the records of the Acco- 
mack Court at Eastville a record of the events of 1642 even 
after the change of name had occurred. 

When the County Courts were first established in Vir- 
ginia, the Governor appointed the clerks. 1 Later this power 
was given to the County Courts themselves, 2 with the pro- 
vision that incumbents at the time of the Act should not be 
arbitrarily removed. Until this time, clerks were regarded 
as the deputies of the Secretary of State. The power to 
appoint them did not remain in the courts long and was 
soon given back to the Secretary, who retained it through- 
out the Colonial period. 3 

The office of County Clerk being a highly remunerative 
position and also one of dignity and importance, was much 

Ulening, Vol. I, p. 305. 

2 Ibid, p. 448. 

'Justice in Colonial Virginia, p. 114. 



100 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

sought after. 1 The appointees were usually men of superior 
character and standing in the community, and "upon no 
official in the entire county was imposed the performance of 
more important functions, of whom was required the exer- 
cise of so many virtues, or who were more distinguished for 
the endowments of mind and heart than was the Virginia 
Clerk, then called Clarke." 2 

The reputation of the early clerks gave character to the 
office long after it became elective, and for years the same 
high standard was adhered to. Once chosen, they remained 
in office for life, as a rule, and in many cases public opinion 
seemed to regard the position as hereditary, for it was not 
uncommon for a worthy son to succeed his worthy sire. 3 On 
the Eastern Shore, the Justices and Clerks were peculiarly 
respected, even more than elsewhere in Virginia. 

Henry Bagwell, Gent., who, as we have seen, was appointed 
Clerk of the monthly Court at Old Plantation in 1632, re- 
tained the office after the court became the shire court of 
Accomac. The second clerk was George Dawe, 1640-42, and 
the third was Edwyn Conway in 1642. Conway came to 
Accomack in 1640 from the County of Worcester, England. 
He did not remain long on the Eastern Shore, but moved 
to Lancaster County about 1652, where he took as his second 
wife the sister or sister-in-law of John Carter of Corotoman. 
He was the progenitor of the Conway family in Virginia. 
The following are the other clerks of Northampton County 
from 1 642 to the end of the century : 4 

Mustice in Colonial Virginia, p. 114. 

•Address of Judge Waller 1!. Staples, Va. Bar Asm... 1894, Vol. VII, 
p. 144. Barton's Introduction to Va. Colonial Decision. Vol. I, p. 201. 

'Barton's Introduction to Va. Col. Doc. Vol. I, p. 201. 

'Johnston's Memorials of Va. Clerks from 4 to 14. For Conway, see 
Virginia TTeraldica. 



EASTEEN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTOEY 101 

4th. Thomas Cook, 1642-1646 

5th. Edward Matthews, 1646-1655 

6th. Robert Howson, 1655 

7th. G. Poke, 

8th. John Boggs, 1659 

9th. Eobt. Hutchinson, 1659-1644 

10th. Jeta Kirkman, 1644 

11th. William Mellings, 1644-1670 

12th. Daniel Neech, 1670-1671 

13th. John Culpeper, , 1671-1674 

14th. Daniel Neech, 1674-1703 

The first clerks seem to have been very proud of their 
intellectual acquirements and particularly of their knowl- 
edge of Latin. They frequently interlarded their manu- 
scripts with Latin words and nearly all of them were prone 
to use peculiar abbreviated forms, which add to the difficulty 
of deciphering their ancient records. 

William Michael was perhaps the first attorney to practice 
his profession in Northampton County, and in 1657 was one 
of the recognized leaders of the bar. For many years Colonel 
Edmund Scarburgh seems to have shared honors with 
Michael. The former's argument in the famous Gettering's 
Controversy, which arose out of a bequest to the church by 
Stephen Charlton, is a masterly exposition of the law of 
wills. 1 

Other distinguished lawyers of the seventeenth century 
were: Thomas Harmonson, Francis Pigott, Daniel Foxcroft, 
John Tankard, Charles Holden, William Spencer, John 
Luke, Ambrose White, George Watson, John Stratton, John 
Parker, James Watts, and Colonel John Custis. Custis 
ably defended the Rev. Mr. Teackle against certain un- 

VNorthampton County Records, Vol. 1657-64, p. 157. 



102 EASTEEN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

grounded bul serious charges brought against him by Scar- 
burgh, the latter accusing Teackle of improper relations with 
Lady Scarburgh and combining with her to poison him. 
Mu-i of the attorneys named were exceptionally well versed 
in the law and skillful practitioners. The volume of litiga- 
tion was surprisingly large, and while the practice of law 
must have been highly lucrative, yet the lawyers invariably 
indulged in the planting of tobacco. 

About this time the first mention of the trouble in England 
was made. It seems that the court having broken the seals 
of a certain letter, excused itself on the ground that it was 
understood that certain valuable information as to England 
and the Colony was contained therein, and, "whereas the 
times do seem perilous" and the letter had been forwarded 
to the addressee, no harm had been done. In other words, 
the gentlemen who assembled about the improvised court- 
house to discuss the impending crisis at "home," were, as 
humanity is wont to be, most curious, and all incoming 
letters paid them toll of news. One of these old letters was 
written by Andrew White, who had returned to England on 
business ; in it he said, "we are in great fear of Turmoils 
& Convulsions, and I wish I was in the Colony." Can we 
not see such men as Colonel Scarburgh and Edmund Bow- 
man riding each morning to the public landing in eager quest 
of the latest intelligence from "home?" Ah, how these old 
transplanted royalists must have longed to draw their swords 
for the King ! How they must have sighed as they gazed 
out over the blue Atlantic and pictured the ruin which was 
soon to befall their kith and kin in old England! And as 
these self-exiled royalists stood upon the shores of their 
American homes, and in reflective mood dwelt upon the 
seething, irrepressible questions of the day, there must have 



EASTEEN SHOEE OF VIEGINIA HISTOEY 103 

been something suggestive to them in the wild lines of tur- 
bulent breakers, mounting higher and higher, their proud 
white crests glinting in the sun, only to fall with awful 
suddenness and fury upon the implacable shoals. But this 
is only a slide in our lantern, a flickering shadow picture on 
the sheet of the past to draw our minds back to the early 
days, and enable us to see the times as they were. We must 
return to material facts. 

In 1043, Sheriff Philip Taylor, who had barely escaped 
the clutches of Lord Baltimore during the Kent Island dis- 
turbance, and who no doubt had been made sheriff on account 
of his intimate knowledge of the frontier and the Indians, 
petitioned the court for a jail. It was not until two years 
later, on the 7th of November, that mention is made of 
action thereon, when the court accepted the offer of John 
Badlam and John Dixon of the Point House at Old Planta- 
tion Creek, which they kept as an ordinary, to guard and 
feed the prisoners. 

In April, 1644, the alarm of Indian massacre was general, 
and the natives who were openly resisting the encroachments 
of the whites to the north being distrusted, the settled portion 
of the lower peninsula was again divided into military 
districts. The country from the north side of Nassawattocks 
to the north side of Hungar's comprised one district, under 
command of Wm. Andrews and Stephen Charlton ; and 
that from the south side of Hungar's to the north side of 
Mattawaman Creek, was a district under Captain Wm. Stone. 
Captain Argoll Yeardley commanded the district from 
Mattawaman Creek to Thos. Dimner's House and the Petit 
house, and the territory on both sides of Cheriton Creek was 
under the command of Colonel Obedience Robins and 
Captain Philip Taylor. Captain Wm. Roper and Edward 



104 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

Douglas commanded the district from King's Creek to the 
tatter's house. The seaside district from Colonel Littleton's 
to Magothy Bay Point was placed under the command of 
John Neale and Edmund Scarburgh. Any persons who 
failed to execute the proper orders of the district Captains 
were to be committed to the custody of the sheriff and sent 
to Janus City. Sonic trouble with refractory inhabitants 
soon arose, and on July 12th John Wise was called before 
the court to testify as a witness against them. It is safe 
to say that Colonel Scarburgh's activity led to the acquisition 
of the jail the following year. 

The County ( !our1 was held, as we have seen in a previous 
chapter, at various places, according to the convenience of 
the J usi ices and the litigants, so we find the house of Stephen 
Charlton designated as the meeting place in 1646. For the 
further convenience of the Bench, a bar was established in 
the immediate neighborhood, for Walter Williams was 
licensed March 22nd to keep an ordinary and victualling 
house, and "to sell strong water." The same year orders 
were issued tor the erection of bridges across Hungar's and 
other Creeks;, showing an increasing intercourse between the 
people of the lower peninsula. 

Tn the early days of the Colony, the area under cultiva- 
tion was so limited, and the tendency of the planters to invest 
in the most profitable crop was so strong, that at times the 
food supply was insufficient to maintain the colonists. 
There being no yast wheat and corn fields in the west to put 
their surplus supply upon the Eastern Exchanges, the Vir- 
ginians were forced to the alternative of self-maintenance or 
starvation. The day when the Indian storehouses could be 
depended upon to maintain the whites in case of emergency 
was past, and the General Assembly was frequently compelled 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 105 

to take cognizance of the economic questions of supply and 
demand. A law was enacted, prescribing the amount of corn 
each planter should produce, apportioned according to his 
acreage; and at the June Court of Northampton, in 1647, 
it was ordered that the constables of the various precincts 
should visit the planters' farms to see whether or not the 
requirements of the law were being fulfilled. The constables, 
however, were wide awake to their own interests, and a hogs- 
head or two of tobacco secured a favorable report on the 
corn crop. In fact, the officials at this early day were not 
overscrupulous in their dealings, and frequently enriched 
themselves at the expense of the general government. As a 
result of the defaults and neglects of the sheriffs, who had 
ii]> to this time collected most of the taxes, and who had 
caused "much blemish to the reputation and credit of the 
Colonie," the Assembly, in 1648, appointed official revenue 
collectors. Colonel Scarburgh and Colonel Nathaniel Little- 
ton were selected for Northampton. 1 

Lord Baltimore, as we have seen, was an energetic 
colonizer from the very first, and did everything in his 
power to turn the tide of immigration to the shores of Mary- 
land. We have seen how Accomack suffered by loss of 
population during the excitement of the first Maryland 
boom and now Northampton was to lose many of her citizens 
through emigration to that colony. 

By 1645, a powerful Protestant party had developed in 
Baltimore's domains. Profiting by the distractions of the 
mother country and the absence of Governor Calvert, who 
had repaired to England to consult with Baltimore, William 
Clayborne at the head of a body of insurgents, many of 

'Hening, Vol. I, p. 356. 



106 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

whom were recruited in Northampton, seized the reins of 
government and usurped the control of the colony. As a 
result of this demonstration of Protestant strength, only the 
greatest influence which Baltimore could bring to bear 
prevented Parliament from rescinding his charter. Calvert 
promptly returned to Maryland in August, 1646, and soon 
regained control, yet even Baltimore was unable to bring 
Claybornc to justice. In 1648, the proprietor revoked all 
former commissions and established a new government, based 
upon more liberal principles, thereby acknowledging the 
power of the Protestants within his colony. On August 
8th, 1648, William Stone of Northampton County, Virginia, 
was commissioned Governor of Maryland. Captain Stone 
was the nephew of a London haberdasher; was born in 
Northamptonshire, England, and settled on the Eastern 
Shore of Virginia about 1632. He was the son of Captain 
John Stone of Massachusetts, who later moved to North- 
ampton. This was the Captain John Stone who behaved so 
badly at Boston and was killed by the Pequods on the 
Connecticut River, while returning to his home in Virginia. 1 
William Stone was a prominent Protestant, having been 
Justice of Accomac in 1633, a vestryman in 1635, and the 
first sheriff of Northampton in 1640. He owned large tracts 
of land between Hungar's and Mattawaman Creeks, which 
he inherited from his father. Being closely affiliated with 
Clayborne, his influence with Parliament was very great. 
His appointment by Baltimore was therefore in the nature 
of a conciliatory measure. 2 Stone was the brother-in-law of 



1 Winthrop's Hist, of New England. 

2 The English Colonization of America in 17th Cent., Neill, p. 253. 
Osgood's Am. Col. in 17th Cent., Vol. IT, p. 319 et seq. Campbell's Hist. 
of Va., p. 205. Va, Carolorum, pp. 416-17. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 107 

Francis Doughty, a non-conformist minister who later came 
to Northampton from Flushing, and the son-in-law of the 
Rev. William Cotton of Hungar's Parish. 1 Perhaps no 
other citizen of Northampton has ever been honored with 
such a title as that conferred upon him by Baltimore, which 
read as follows : "Lieutenant chief Governor General Ad- 
miral Marshall chief Captain and Commander as well by sea 
as by land of our Said Province of Maryland." 2 In return 
for all this Stone agreed to transport to Maryland at least 
five hundred settlers of English or Irish descent, and judg- 
ing from the frequent references in the Maryland records 
of this time to Virginians "late of Accomack, now called 
Northampton County," it is quite certain that large numbers 
of the Puritans of the lower peninsula migrated to Mary- 
land with Stone. These people took up lands along the 
Pocomoke River and in the boundary country, from which 
it appears that they retained a desire to keep in touch with 
their old homes. Many of them improved their condition 
along with the acquisition of this new land and a change of 
allegiance. Job Chandler, a brother of a London merchant 
and who had lived in Northampton, became a State Coun- 
cillor in Maryland. 

Under the favorable terms which Baltimore extended to 
patentees of land at this time, numerous Eastern Shoremen 
who never forswore their allegiance to Virginia nor resided 
in Maryland, took up lands in the latter colony. Both 
Colonel Edmund Scarburgh and his son Charles patented 
large tracts there, as did John Custis and Francis Yeardley. 

In 1654, Governor Stone, by proclamation, acknowledged 
Cromwell as Protector, but ignored the authority of the 

'See Chapter on Early Church. 

Proceeding of Council of Maryland, 1636-37, p. 201. 



108 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

Parliamentary Commissioners, which so infuriated his for- 
mer ally, Clayborne, that influences were brought to bear 
which forced Stone to resign. He at once set about the 
organization of an armed force to overthrow the new govern- 
nii nt. After various adventures, including the seizure of 
the State Records, the undisciplined band of Stone's ad- 
herents was met by Captain William Fuller, at the head of 
120 planters bearing the colors of the Commonwealth, and 
totally defeated at Severn. 1 He himself was captured and 
sentenced to death but was subsequently pardoned. Thus 
ended this Eastern Shoreman's resistance to Parliament. 2 
How his brothers to the south fared, we shall see in the 
next chapter. 

In 1653, Governor Stone, who was then living at 
Nanjemie, Maryland, sold his house on Hungar's Creek to 
Captain William Whittington of Northampton. He died 
about 1695 at his manor of "Avon" in Charles County, 
Maryland. Among his descendants was Thomas Stone, 
Signer of the Declaration of American Independence. 

The oath which Stone subscribed to as first sheriff of 
Accomack is said to have been the first sheriff's oath in 
America. 3 The full text follows : 

"Ye shall sweare that well and truely ye shall serve the 
King's Magistie in the office of the Sheriff of the County of 
Acchawmacke, and doe the King's yffitt in all things that 
belongeth to you to doe by way of yor office as ffar as you 
can or say. 

"You shall truely kepe the King's Right and all that 
belongeth to the Crowne. 

1 Severn was the early name of Annapolis. 

2 English Colonization of America in 17th Cent., Neill. p. 255. 

*Va. Mag. of Hist, and Biog. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 109 

"You shall truely and rightfully treate the people of the 
Sheriffwicke, and do right as well to the poore as to the 
Hitch in all that belonged to yor office. 

"You shall doe no wrong to anie man for anie guift or 
other behest or promise of goods for favour nor hate. 

"You shall disturb noe man's rights. You shall truely 
returne and truely serve all the King's Writts as ffarr forthe 
as shall be to you coming. 

"You shall take noe Bayliffe into your service but such 
as you will answere for. 

"You shall make such of yor Bayliffes to take such oathe 
as you make yorseffe in that belongeth to yor occupation. 

"You shall be dwelling in yor own yyn (proper) ysons 
(persons) within yor Bayliewicke for the tyme that you 
shall be in the same office, Except you are otherwise licensed 
by the Governor and Counsell of this Colony. And you shall 
diligently and truely doe all of the things appertaining to 
yor sayd office of Sheriffwicke to the uttermost of yr power. 
Soe holpg yor God ye." 

Stone's under-sheriff was Thomas Hatton ; without doubt 
the same who in 1648, with his wife and two sons, Robert 
and Thomas, went to Maryland. 

In 1649, the County Court of Northampton was held at 
the tavern of Walter Williams of Nassawattocks, and also at 
the tavern and pseudo-jail at Old Plantation, called the 
Point House or Dinner House. In the designation of such 
places for the sitting of the Justices, we can see the origin 
of the famous Virginia Court day and the many customs that 
sprang up around the occasion. At these very sessions of 
1649 mention is made of fighting and disorder and one 
litigant was forced to defend himself with a truncheon in a 
tavern brawl. Another, Robert Warder by name, was 
ordered to stand at the church door at Nassawattocks with 
a great pot tied around his neck, thereby signifying the 
measure of his offense for being drunk, etc. 



110 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

The Justices themselves seem to have grown delinquent 
under the influence of court day, for the Assembly was 
forced to enact, about this time, a law prescribing a fine 
of three hundred pounds of tobacco for absence from court. 

During the last few years of which we have been treating, 
affairs had come to a sorry pass in England. King Charles 
the First, after having been a prisoner for several years, 
was beheaded in front of Whitehall Palace, on the 30th day 
of January, 1648. The noble manner in which he faced 
death confirmed the royalist planters of the Eastern Shore 
in their loyalty to his cause. His faults were forgotten, his 
transgressions were atoned for by the blood of the royal 
martyr. It was impossible for the men of Accomac to 
understand the seriousness of the home situation. While 
they knew full well of the downfall of their party in Eng- 
land before the determined onslaughts of the Cromwellians, 
yet they could not conceive of such a possibility as the exe- 
cution of the King himself. The news of the sentence and 
its execution fell upon them like lightning from a clear 
sky. They were dazed by the shock, and upon their recovery 
sought to give expression to their sentiments of loyalty. In 
the old records we find under date of December, 1649, the 
following entry: 

"A proclamation By the Commandr and Commissionrs 
of Accomack : 

"Whereas, it hath pleased Almighty God to suffer us 
to be deprived of our Late Dread Sovraigne of blessed 
memorye, wee the Commandr and Commissionrs of Acco- 
macke doe by these presents proclayme Charles the un- 
doubted Heyre of our Late Sovraigne of Blessed memorye, 
to bee King of England, Scotland, Ireland and Virginia 
And all other Remote Provinces & Collonyes, New England 
and the Caribda Islands. And all other Hereditamts and 
Indowmts belonging unto our Late Sovraigne of blessed 



EASTEEN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 111 

memorye. Willing and Requiringe all his Maties Lege 
people to acknowledge their Alledgance And with genrall 
consent & Applause pray God to bless Charles the Second 
King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Virginia, 
New England, ye Caribda Islands, and all other provinces 
and subjects to the English Crowne; and soe God save 
Kinge Charles the Second. Amen, Amen, Amen. 

"Recordat priino die Mense Ffebrur, Ano 1649, p'me 
Edm: Mathews Cler. Cur." 

The above proclamation did not voice the sentiments of all 
the people on the peninsula. One can picture the resent- 
ment of the Puritans when they heard of this Act on the 
part of the Court. They were greatly in the minority among 
the higher classes, however, and this was a time when might 
ruled absolute as illustrated by the Commonwealth itself. 
During the two years following the execution of the King, 
fugitive Cavaliers poured by hundreds into Virginia. 

About the fifteenth day of September, 1649, the "Virginia 
Merchant," Captain John Locker, a ship of three hundred 
tons burden, sailed for Jamestown with many passengers. 
Among those who engaged passage were Colonel Norwood, a 
relative of Governor Berkeley; Major Francis Morison, a 
sympathizer with the King, and Major Stevens, 1 who had 

^Major William Stevens probably for some time remained in Accomac, 
where Yeardley and others held his political sentiments, and was perhaps 
the same person who in March 1651 declared his fealty to the "common- 
wealth of England as it is nowe established without Kins: or House of 
Lords." He may have been the one who settled near the spot, where 
he was cast away, in 1650, and thus became a citizen of Maryland. In 
the records of Somerset County, Maryland, is the following: "Richard 
Stevens, brother to William Stevens of Somerset County, in ye Province 
of Maryland, was youngest son of John Stevens of Lebourn in ye Parish 
of Buckingham in England, died at the house of his brother William 
aforesaid, ye 22d day of April, 1667, and was buried at his plantation 
called Rehoboth in ye county and province aforesaid, in America, ye 
25th day of April." 

In 1679, Col. William Stevens entered a tract of two thousand acres 
on the shores of the upper part of Assateague Bay near where, in 1650, 
the "Virginia Merchant's" passengers landed in distress. 



112 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

served under Waller in the Parliamentary Army when it 
besieged Exeter, then held by Sir John Berkeley, the Gov- 
ernor's brother. Driven by a storm, the ship found itself 
on the 12th of January, 1650, among the islands of 
Assateague Bay, on the Atlantic coast of Maryland. Upon 
one of these, Colonel Norwood, Major Morison, Stevens, 
Francis Gary, and others landed, and after several days, 
crossed over to the main land and were hospitably treated by 
the Indians. A white fur trader, Jenkin Price, 1 arrived, 
and under his guidance they began their journey to 
Nathaniel Littleton's plantation, the nearest in Accomac. 
Toward night of the first day, they reached a point opposite 
Chincoteague Island, and at the close of the second day, 
after twenty-five miles of travel, they came to Price's post 
on the Littleton Plantation. From thence they proceeded to 
the Plantation of Stephen Charlton, who gave them fresh 
clothing. Lower down in Accomac, now Northampton 
County, they visited Argoll Yeardley, the son of the former 
Governor, who was born at Jamestown, in 1621, and had 
recently married. 

Norwood in his narrative writes : 

"It fell out very luckily for my better welcome, 
that he had not long before brought over a wife, from 
Rotterdam, 2 that I had known almost from a child. 
Her father, Custis by name, kept a victualling house 
in that town, lived in good repute, and was the general host 



'In October, 1650, the Assembly gave 5,000 pounds of tobacco to 
Jenkin Price for the preservation of certain persons. Price was now 
poor and evidently this was a gratuity for his kindness to Norwood, 
now become Treasurer of Virginia. 

2 Yeardley's father used to send his tobacco to Rotterdam. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 113 

of our nation there. The Esquire knowing I had the honour 
to be the Governor's kinsman, and his wife knowing my 
conversation in Holland, I was received, caress'd more like 
a domestick, and near relation, than a man in misery, and a 
stranger. I stay'd there for a passage over the Bay, about 
ten days welcomed and feasted not only by the Esquire and 
his wife, but by many neighbours that were not too remote." 1 

About the middle of February, Colonel Norwood crossed 
Chesapeake Bay, in a sloop, and landed at Esquire Ludlow's, 
who curiously enough was a cousin of the regicide and 
became with Yeardley a Councillor under the Common- 
wealth. 

Stephen Charlton, mentioned by Norwood, was an able, 
hospitable man, and owned the plantation now known as the 
"Glebe," situated about three miles from Bridgetown, down 
"Church Neck." He left this plantation to Hungar's Parish 
to aid in the maintenance of a clergyman. 2 

The name of John Custis first appears on the Eastern 
Shore about 1640. He was born in Gloucester County, Eng- 
land, but moved to Rotterdam, where he was a famous host, 
keeping the tavern which the English made their head- 
quarters. 

During a visit to Rotterdam, Argoll Yeardley, son of Sir 
George, married Ann Custis, and no doubt induced John 
and Joane, her parents, to return with him to Virginia. 3 
John Custis, son of the immigrant, was an enterprising man, 
and like Scarburgh, engaged in salt making on one of the 
sea-side islands. He was foremost in all civil and ecclesi- 

1 A Voyage to Virginia. Force's Collect, of Historical Tracts, Vol. III. 

2 See Chapter on Early Church. 

3 Custis was not born in Ireland, as stated by Bishop Meade. See 
Virginia Heraldica, p. 47. Also Yeardlev Genealogy by T. T. Upshur, 
p. 4. 



114 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

astical matters and was a great favorite of Lord Arlington 
in the time of Charles II, naming his estate on Old Planta- 
tion Creek, "Arlington," in honor of his patron. He was a 
true royalist, married a daughter of Colonel Edmund Scar- 
burgh, and was appointed Major General of the King's 
forces by Governor Berkeley in 1676. In all, there were 
five John Custises, the last being the first husband of 
Martha Dandridge, who afterwards married General Wash- 
ington. Here again we see two of those family connections, 
between the Yeardleys and the Custises, and the Custises and 
the Scarburghs, upon which we have already dwelt. 

All through the period of 1644, a period of general up- 
rising on the part of the Indians of the Western Shore, when 
the streams were red with the blood of the colonists, the 
natives of the peninsula had remained passive. It is true 
that prompt steps had been taken by the Eastern Shoremen 
to protect themselves and overawe the Indians who found 
themselves so circumscribed by the whites that there was but 
slight temptation to disobey the advice of Debedeavon and 
their rulers. Appreciating the attitude of the peninsula 
natives, Sir William Berkeley in April, 1650, addressed 
the Court as follows: 

"The Commissioners of Northampton County there. 
"Gentl : Having been frequently informed by testimony 
of undeniable credit, that the Indians commonly called by 
the name of the Laughing King Indians, have been most 
faithful to the English, and especially neither they nor their 
King in the last bloody massacre could be induced to engage 
with our enemies against us & so by consequence kept the 
remote Indians, at least none broke in at a time when a 
general combination against us, had been ruinous, at least 
of insupportable expense to us, and considering that we 
cannot reasonably for the like effect of their friendship, in 



EASTERN" SHOBE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 115 

case we should again need it (which God knows how soon it 
may be) unless we correspond with them in acts of charity 
and amity, Especially unless we abstain from acts of rapine 
& violence, which they say we begin to do, by taking away 
their land from them, by pretence of the Sale of a patent. 
My desire therefore to you is and I make it in the name of 
the peace & safety of the Colony, that you suffer no land to 
be taken from them but what shall be allowed both in justice 
& convenience by the full court. And in case the Com- 
missioners disagree in their opinion, that you refer the whole 
matter to be considered by a full court at James City. 

"Your humble Servant, 

"Wm. Berkeley." 

Here, indeed, is a testimonial to the Laughing King. 
With such a certificate he may justly appear before the 
Tribune of Fame and demand recognition from posterity. 
O Fame, how many deserving names remain ungilded in 
your hall to make space for those of the less worthy ! What 
an opportunity there is for our ladies and their Societies to 
do justice to Debedeavon, the noble Laughing King of 
Accawmacke ! Two generations of our fore-fathers were be- 
friended and shielded by this chief, whose single word would 
have brought down the horrors of a massacre upon the un- 
protected flank of the infant Colony. The wilds of Mary- 
land would have poured forth an unrestrained horde of 
savages, thirsty for blood and rapine, had he not held them 
back and interposed the bar of his sacred command. 

During the massacre of 1644, and subsequent thereto, 
numerous reports of the intended uprising of the Eastern 
Shore Indians greatly disturbed the people of the peninsula. 
At last, on July 25, 1650, a council of war was held and 
various witnesses examined in regard to the rumors of war. 
Robert Berry swore that an Indian named Ornaws had 



116 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

declared to him that "the Indians were not good ; that King- 
Tom, of the Gingasgoynes, told the other English what the 
Indians said and did ; that they were appointed to poison 
the English." Berry replied that he did not believe it, be- 
cause the bayside Indians had sold all their corn, but to this 
Ornaws answered "they sold their corn for truck to pay the 
Indians that were to come over the bay, whom they had hired 
to fight against the English." 

The court at once gave orders for the people to stand 
under arms, etc., and continued the examination of other 
witnesses. Two negroes being then examined, one of them 
testified that King Tom had carried roanoke unto the 
Nanticoke King; that he said the roanoke was for bribing; 
that the King of Gingoteague and the King of Matchateague 
intended to fall upon the English, and that they had all con- 
sulted together, except the King of Kikotank. At a court 
held the same month Robert Berry's deposition was taken 
again and a party of able men were ordered to go among 
the Indians and make inquiries. 1 

What danger was reported by those who went among the 
Indians does not appear, but on October 9th, 1651, the 
county was again divided into military precincts, and com- 
manders appointed as follows: 

"Captain Peter Walker was to command the Regiment of 
Horse to be raised. 

From the lower end of Magothy Bay to the South side of 
Old Plantation Creek, Captain Edward Douglas. 

From the house of Lewis Whyte to Old Plantation Creek, 
including John Little's house at Seaside, Colonel Obedience 
Robins. 

'Northampton County Records, 1650, Vol. Ill, p. 217. 



EASTEEN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 117 

From the house of Lewis Whyte, including Savage's Neck, 
Captain John Savage. 

Hungar's Creek: Captain William Andrews. 
Occahannock Creek: Col. Edmund Scarburgh. 
Nandua Precinct: Capt. Samuel Goldsmith." 

The Military rendezvous called Nuswattocks is now called 
Bridgetown, doubtless so renamed because it is not on Nus- 
wattocks Creek, but is at the bridge over Hungar's Creek 
near its head waters. The place is indiscriminately referred 
to in the records as "the bridge at Nuswattocks," "the bridge 
at Hungars," "the bridge over Hungars Creek at Nuswat- 
tocks," but the context shows that the present site of Bridge- 
town was where the Commissioners' or Justices' Court for 
the upper part of the county met alternately with "Old 
Plantation." 

In April, 1651, Colonel Scarburgh could no longer restrain 
his desire to punish the Indians along the northern boundary 
of Accomac for a number of trifling depredations, and for 
their reported conspiracy to massacre the whites. Collecting 
a band of well armed and experienced Indian fighters, among 
whom were Thomas Johnson, Richard Vaughan, John Doll- 
ings, John Robinson, Toby Norton, Richard Bayly, Ambrose 
Dixon, Richard Hill, 1 Tomlin Price, besides other inhabi- 
tants of Northampton, he set out from Occahannock Creek 
on the 29th of the month, to capture or kill the King of 
Pocomoke, the leading spirit of the supposed conspiracy. It 
was not long before the formidable mounted band fell upon 
the natives, whom they shot at, and slashed with their sabres 
and long hunting knives. Capturing a number of the amazed 
natives, Scarburgh ordered that their bows be cut and that 

*The same man who disturbed Okiawampe in his hunting. See Chap- 
ter on Indians. 



118 EASTERN" SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

the two whom he believed to be ringleaders be bound neck 
and heels with a chain. Not knowing what was coming 
next, it was very natural for the Indians to collect in great 
numbers along the border, and of course it was said that they 
intended to invade the Accomac country. Whether it was 
their intention to do so or not before Colonel Scarburgh 
made his raid among them is not really known. At any 
rate, rumors of impending war had been rife for some time, 
and having much property exposed to their mercy, Colonel 
Scarburgh was unwilling to sit quietly at home and take the 
chance of its being destroyed. Numbers of the frontiersmen 
and fur traders had no doubt come to him with tales about 
the Indians, which led to his assault upon them. After a 
short while, the bands of frightened Indians dispersed, and 
Scarburgh and his raiders returned to their homes. 

At the next court, May 10th, the Sheriff was ordered to 
arrest, to the number of fifty or all those who went upon this 
expedition, and confine them until they gave security for 
their appearance at James City before the Governor and 
Council. The court then sent over Argoll Yeardley and 
William Andrews to prosecute the defendants, and in order 
that these distinguished representatives of law and order 
might appear at the Capital in proper style, it was directed 
that a boat, well stocked with provisions and manned by 
three men, should be placed at their disposal. 

In the meantime, however, it was commanded by the 
authorities that diligent ward and watch be kept throughout 
the county in order to discover and prevent the execution of 
the supposed plot or conspiracy of the Indians. With a view 
to placating the injured spirit of the Pocomokes, Mr. 
Andrews was enjoined to send to Onecren of Pocomoke, 100 
arms' length of roanoke ; to the King of Metomkin, 10 weed- 



EASTERN" SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 119 

in«' hoes; to the two Indians that were bound neck and 
heels, and to the Indian shot by the wife of Toby Selby, 20 
arms' length of roanoke ; Andrews to be satisfied out of the 
next crop of tobacco. From this order of the court, it would 
appear that the ladies had joined in the chase. The Indians 
were great thieves, however, and Mrs. Selby probably shot 
this one while he was prowling about her place. 

It does not appear that anyone, implicated in the raid, 
appeared before the council of war held at James City for 
their prosecution, except Colonel Scarburgh and Thomas 
Johnson. These two gentlemen were indicted for "going in 
a hostile manner among the Indians and doing them outrages 
contrary to the known laws of Virginia." An investigation 
ensued, "but upon scanning the business, the charge was 
found to be untrue," and the court considered that the 
defendants acted as careful and honest men ought to have 
done. From this, it would appear that the raid was justified 
by the facts ; and convincing evidence must have been intro- 
duced as to the plans of the Indians. After Governor 
Berkeley's proclamation, enjoining amity and courtesy on 
the part of the whites in their dealings with the natives of 
the peninsula, it is only reasonable to suppose that he would 
have been infuriated by such an act, as Scarburgh's raid, 
unless justifiable. That he was not, is shown by the follow- 
ing, written immediately after the trial : 

"To Colonel Littleton. 

"I pray (upon sight hereof) deliver unto Mr. Edmund 
Scarburgh Towe (two) of yor best Ewe Lambe wch I have 
given him, for his daughters Tabitha & Matilda, charge ye 
same to Accott. fr 

"Yor Llovinge frend. 

"William Berkeley." 



120 EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

Upon Scarburgh's return, the following entry was made 
in the records of the court held July 29th: 

"Whereas there is great probability that the Indians have 
concluded a confederacy of acting a sudden massacre of the 
inhabitants of this county, It is therefore provided that a 
company of Horse shall be pressed for present service to 
discover and prevent the threatened danger, and that no 
delay be used. These are in his Majesties name to authorize 
the officers employed to press such horses, men and other 
necessaries as fitly conduce to the execution of this design 
and hereunto let no man fail of observing as he or they 
will answer to the court at their peril." 

This commission was signed by Stephen Charlton and the 
two gentlemen recently tried at James City, Colonel Scar- 
burgh and Thos. Johnson. First: observe that the court of 
Northampton does not recognize the authority of the Com- 
monwealth, but regards Charles II as their ruler. Second: 
observe that Scarburgh and Johnson made out such a strong 
case against the Indians that they were not only thought to 
be justified in their raid, but the very court which had in- 
dicted them was led to issue orders for aggressive action 
against the natives. Then follows a letter from one of the 
most conservative and law-abiding men in the county : 

"Gent. I have received your order & I think it fitting 
that you all meet at Mr. Charlton's upon the 31st of this 
month and thereunto give Mr. Andrews and Mr. Yeardley 
notice of your meeting, and what you shall there agree for 
the Good & safety of the County, I do willingly condescend 
to. I pray you be careful not to engage us in a war but 
upon good grounds, etc. 

"Your friend, 

"Nath'l Littleton." 






EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 121 

Mr. Andrews and Mr. Yeardley were the two gentlemen 
but recently sent to James City to prosecute the raiders. 
They are now about to confer as to another raid, just three 
months subsequent to the one made by Scarburgh, which had 
no doubt disorganized the natives, and prevented concerted 
action among them during the early part of the summer, at 
which time they would have commenced hostilities if a 
massacre had been contemplated ; for at that time the woods 
are well screened with leaves and stocked with food, and the 
sun is not too hot for rapid movements. 

For the execution of the foregoing order of the July 
Court, it was provided that twenty-five horses and mares, 
with saddles and bridles, were to be provided by the planters ; 
and if enough volunteers did not appear, men were to be 
pressed into service by the sheriff on the following Monday 
afternoon at three o'clock at the house of Richard Bayly, of 
Nuswattocks. Each man was to bring with him half a pound 
of powder, with shot and bullets and rations for a week, and 
was to be armed with pistols, carbine and short sword; 
and they were authorized to take such arms and harness from 
the planters, wherever they happened to find them. 

Such warlike preparations seem to have completely over- 
awed the restless natives, and there is no record for some 
years of further disturbances. Exactly one year after these 
preparations to meet the Indians were made, in July, 1652, 
it is recorded that "divers Indians from the Town of Oanan- 
cocke, have declared unto the Court, that through the affec- 
tionate love they have bourne unto our Nation, have from 
time to time suffered us to locate upon their land for small 
satisfaction received of us for the said land, insomuch that 
the Indians are now straightened from their hunting (a 
great part of their relief consisting thereupon), and also they 



122 EASTEBN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

have declared that lately divers of our own people have 
seated even unto the very Town of Oanancocke, which if 
tiny should part with they should wholly destroy the in- 
heritance of themselves & their posterity." The court imme- 
diately ordered that no man should seat upon the north side 
of Pungoteague Creek unless just compensation be made to 
the Indians and be acknowledged as such by one of their 
chiefs or great men. 1 

As a result of this order, we find Tepitiascon, 2 King of 
Great Nussawattocks calling in John Wise, a neighboring 
planter, to witness his deed of one thousand acres north of 
Pungoteague Creek, on October 27, 1653 ; and the same 
month the great men of Onancock made complaint to the 
Court that Randall Revell, Hugh Yeo, and John Jenkins 
refused to give them satisfaction for their land on Pungo- 
teague Creek. The court ordered them to make payment, 
or appear at the next court to be held at Occahannock. 
Andiamon, King of the Occahannocks and Curratucks, also 
complained that Thos. Teackle, Jenkins Price and Richard 
Hill, had not paid for the land they bought from the Indians, 
and upon which they were then seated. 3 They were also 
ordered to pay or appear before the court. 

In April, 1654, the King of Matomkin voluntarily 
deposited one hundred arms' length of roanoke in part pay- 
ment for the killing and stealing of hogs by his young men ; 
and it was ordered by the court that he should further pay 
"one hundred and fifty arms' length of good and current 
roanoke, and sixty sufficient Indian mats to be made ready 
in three months." The King of Machipungo was similarly 
fined upon his own confession. 

'See Chapter on Aborigines. 

'Same as Tepiapon. 

r, \\> have met Jenkins Price and Richard Hill before. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 123 

Such records very clearly show the great desire of the 
Indians of the lower peninsula to maintain peace, and prove 
what has been asserted before, that the natives who gave all 
the trouble were the border tribes. 



IX 
The Dutch War. The Eastern Shore Under the Com- 
monwealth. The Northampton Protest 

In October, 1650, the Long Parliament passed an 
ordinance prohibiting trade with Barbadoes, Bermuda, 
Antigua and Virginia. The act recited that "these colonies 
were, and of a right ought to be, subject to the authority of 
Parliament; that divers acts of rebellion had been committed 
by many persons inhabiting Virginia, whereby they had 
most traitorously usurped a power of government, and set 
themselves in opposition to this Commonwealth." It there- 
fore declared such persons notorious robbers and traitors, 
and forbade all correspondence or commerce with them. 1 

The following year, in October, 1651, the first of the 
famous Navigation Acts was passed, forbidding any goods, 
wares or merchandise, to be imported into England except 
in English ships, or in ships of the country where the com- 
modities were produced — a blow aimed at the carrying-trade 
of the Dutch, which eventually led to war between England 
and Holland. The passage of the Act of 1650, forbidding 
trade with Virginia, greatly offended the Dutch inhabitants 
of the peninsula; and the Dutch settlements to the north 
of Virginia were naturally not very kindly disposed towards 
the English flag. 

While the Indian matters of the spring and summer of 
1651 were in progress, Colonel Scarburgh had sent one of 

Campbell's History of Virginia, pp. 215-216. 

124 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 125 

his vessels, "The Sea Horse," up the coast and into the 
Delaware River to trade with the Indians. While in that 
neighborhood, the Dutch Commander, Andreas Hudde or 
Andrew Hudson, Deputy Governor General of New Nether- 
lands, seized the vessel by force, lowered the King's colors, 
ran the Dutch flag up to the mast head, and carried the ship, 
John Ames, the Skipper, William Scott, the pilot, and the 
entire crew to Fort Nassau, pretending that they had vio- 
lated the customs laws, although Governor Stuyvesant 1 had 
invited Scarburgh to trade there. 2 

Such an act aroused the enmity of Scarburgh, who, besides 
being an Indian fighter and a planter, was the largest mer- 
chant on the peninsula. He at once took the depositions of 
his men before the Northampton Court; and bringing the 
matter to the attention of the Governor and Council at James 
City, eventually recovered his ship, it is supposed. But such 
redress was not sufficient for Scarburgh, who bided his time 
to revenge himself upon the Dutch. Any and all Dutchmen 
were responsible for this outrage upon his property, and the 
whole nation was the victim of his ire. 

Charles the Second, whom the Eastern Shoremen had 
declared, by proclamation, to be the successor of his father, 
had, at the head of a Scottish Army, invaded England and 
had been utterly overthrown at Worcester, September 3, 
1651. Charles himself, not long after, with difficulty and in 
disguise, had escaped to France. In that same month the 
Council of State appointed Robert Dennis, Mr. Richard 
Bennett, Mr. Thomas Stegg and Captain William Clayborne, 
commissioners, to reduce the Colony of Virginia and the 
inhabitants thereof, to their due obedience to the Common- 

'Called Stephesant in Northampton Records. 
J See also mention of this affair in Va. Carolornm. 



126 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

wealth. The commissioners at once took steps to accomplish 
the task assigned them. Richard Bennett, Clayborne and 
Stegg, had all been residents of Virginia. Bennett being 
a non-conformist and Round-head, had moved to Maryland 
when the troubles in England commenced; but dis- 
satisfied with Baltimore's proprietary government, had 
returned to England. He had been a member of the Council 
of Virginia in 1646. Oddly enough, the daughter of this 
old Puritan married Colonel Chas. Scarburgh, the son of 
the noted royalist, Colonel Edmund Scarburgh. 

In 1652, the war which had been brewing for several years 
between England and Holland, as a result of the former's 
unjust restriction upon commerce, broke out. Hostilities 
commenced in May and a series of brilliant naval engage- 
ments continued through the summer and fall, victory gener- 
ally crowning the Dutch fleets. No part of Virginia was as 
much affected by this war as Northampton County, for the 
thread of Dutch influence was intimately woven into the 
fabric, political, social, and commercial, of the Eastern 
Shore. Not alone were they dependent to a greater extent 
upon the Dutch trade, so highly developed in that quarter, 
than the people elsewhere in the Colony, but a large portion 
of the Eastern Shore population was Dutch. One must 
readily see then how closely this war concerned the little 
peninsula. 

Immediately upon the outbreak of hostilities, the States 
General sent messengers to New Netherlands and the West 
Indies, advising their good subjects that a state of war 
existed. The West India Company in turn advised the 
government in Holland to send a number of fast frigates to 
the Atlantic Seaboard to prey upon English Commerce, but 
as the English colonies were more than a match for New 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 127 

Netherlands, it was suggested that no attack upon them be 
made. In August, the Directors of the Company sent Stuy- 
vesant, the Governor at New Amsterdam, full instructions 
as to defense, etc., and suggested the employment of the 
natives as allies in case of emergency. 

The ship which bore these instructions was by ill-chance 
captured by the English. Again the Company sent instruc- 
tions to Stuyvesant, this time advising him to avoid con- 
flicts, if possible, with the English to the north and south 
of him. Upon the intelligence, gained by the capture of his 
first orders, that Stuyvesant was instructed to ally himself 
with the Indians, wild rumors spread like fire, up and down 
the coast. It was said that a general massacre of the English 
colonists was to be instigated by the Dutch, who had already 
shown signs of aggression by certain acts of retaliation upon 
the English as a result of their restrictions upon trade. The 
Governor, however, although urgent measures were adopted 
to put New Netherlands in a state of defense, made no 
attempt to incite the Indians to war upon the English. On 
the contrary, appreciating the weakness of his dominions, he 
wrote to the authorities in New England and Virginia, ex- 
pressing the most friendly feelings, both of New Netherlands 
and the West India Company, and proposed that the Dutch 
and English colonies should continue on a peace footing in 
spite of the hostile relations existing between the mother 
countries. But the excitement in the English colonies was 
too great to permit the people to see in such friendly ad- 
vances anything but Dutch treachery, and the offer was 
repelled. 

Shortly after the first report that the Dutch were inciting 
the Indians to rise against the English, the Northampton 
Court took cognizance of the threatened danger and pub- 



128 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

lished an injunction against the Dutch inhabitants of the 
county trading with the natives, and a heavy fine of 500 
pounds of tobacco was imposed upon any Hollander who 
should "trade, truck, or barter" with the Indians for "skins 
or furs." There seem to have been numerous complaints to 
the Court that the Dutch "do incite the Indians" to disorder 
and acts of enmity against the Accomackians, all, no doubt, 
unfounded upon fact and prompted in a measure by the 
jealousy of the English Indian traders of whom there were 
a great number. 

While it does not appear that Bennett was appointed 
Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia until April 
30th, 1652, in the preceding January, and before the Old 
Dominion had surrendered to the representatives of Parlia- 
ment, an order was received by the Court of Northampton 
from him, in which it was stated that England had declared 
war upon Holland and that the militia of the county was to 
be mustered and assembled. The same month a command 
was received from the General Assembly to seize any Dutch 
ships that came into the Northampton waters, as the penin- 
sula was in great danger from the Dutch. Another com- 
munication soon followed from Governor Bennett, ordering 
such vessels to be seized, particularly one then riding in the 
roads at "Accomac." This was what the injured Scarburgh 
was waiting for. His vengeance could now be satisfied 
under screen of the law. Indeed, was he not directed to 
proceed against his friends, the Dutch, by the highest 
authority in the land! 

It seems that, about February, 1652, a New England 
merchant vessel, owned by several persons of Boston, and 
under the command of Captain John Jacob, a German, was 
ridins at anchor in a creek near Nominv on the Potomac. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 129 

The good ship, "Ye Hobby Horse," owned by Colonel Scar- 
burgh and manned by eight well armed men under Mark 
Magge, the Master, had been privateering about the bay, 
under Scarburgh's orders, looking for Dutchmen. The sole 
authority vested in the Colonel was that, incident to the 
orders mentioned, and, to protect himself, he had thoughtfully 
borrowed the commission of the Admiralty of England, 
issued to Captain Peter Wraxall of the British ship "Speed- 
well," lying in Occahannock Creek, when the "Hobby Horse" 
set out. To wait for a letter of Marque and Reprisal would 
have been tedious, and so long as friend Wraxall was willing 
to loan his commission the matter was satisfactory to 
Scarburgh. 

Dutch prizes seem to have been somewhat scarce, the 
nearest approach to one being the New England vessel com- 
manded by a German Master ; so the bold Magge, not being 
particular and in order not to return to the Colonel empty- 
handed, boarded the Bristol merchantman in the opportune 
absence of her Captain and took possession of the ship and 
the cargo in the name of England ! Upon returning to his 
vessel, Captain Jacob was naturally surprised to find her in 
the hands of strangers and demanded to see the commission 
under which the seizure was authorized. Expressing an 
entire willingness to comply with all orders of the English 
government, yet he said that in the absence of proper author- 
ity, the boarding of his vessel was an act of piracy. In 
this the Captain was right, but the pirates became angry, 
sensible, no doubt, of their unlawful conduct, and one of 
them would have shot Jacob, had not Magge prevented him. 
Alarmed by the violence of his visitors, Captain Jacob 
entered his cabin to get a gun to protect himself with, and 
upon returning to the deck was struck over the head by 



130 EASTEKX SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

Richard Wayman, one of the boarders. The poor Captain, 
ing himself helpless, begged that his ship and cargo be 
alone, but was promptly informed that he had had a 
knock on one side of his head, and unless he remained silent, 
he would have his brains knocked out on the other side. 
Magge and his crew then took the ship away from Nominy 
and seem to hare disposed of much of the cargo at their 
pleasure, Jacob protesting all the while against such conduct. 
Magge now became alarmed at his own unlawful acts, and 
decided to return with the questionable prize to his master, 
i( lling Jacob that he might go with him to Northampton and 
protest against the seizure of the vessel if he desired to. 
When the two vessels came to anchor in Occahannock Creek 
at the stern of the "Speedwell," Captain Jacob went aboard 
the British ship and demanded that his vessel and goods be 
returned to him, but mr. Davis, the Master's Mate, declared 
that he had no authority to return them and in fact had been 
ordered by Captain Wraxall not to do so. Thus we see that 
Wraxall must have been in cahoot with Scarburgh. Despair- 
ing of recovering his vessel, Jacob, it seems, collected certain 
evidence, and in the records of the county for February, 
1652, a long deposition appears about the seizure of the 
ship. Tn the investigation which followed the deposition, 
Mark Magge, the Master of Scarburgh' s vessel, swore that 
"he came down from Occahannock and found the vessel 
anchored by the Mills (Nominy?) and that after they were 
anchored by the 'Speedwell' came aboard Argall Yeardley, 
Obedience Robins, Captain John Stringer and Mr. Lamber- 
ton, and as they were leaving the chirurgeon abused the 
master, and said 'that he had a horse at home, and thought 
to bring, but he was afraid they would have made him a 
< lolonel, Major, or Justice of the Peace', and that he further 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 131 

declared that most all of them here were Rogues or whores, 
or vagabonds, or thieves, or beggars"; and many other 
scandalous names. 1 From this deposition of Magge's it 
would seem that upon arriving in Occahannock, Captain 
Jacob sought the aid of the County Justices, Yeardley, 
Robins and Stringer, and that upon their failure to turn 
over to him his ship without further investigation, the sur- 
geon of the New England vessel abused them, making light 
of their various titles and the fact that they all rode horses. 
At any rate, Colonel Robins, by that time at war with Scar- 
burgh, filed the following complaint about a year after his 
visit to the captured vessel, or in February, 1653 : 

"Capt. John Jacob, a High Germayne of Frankendall in 
the Palatinate, who in ye yeare 1651, engaged to ye State 
of England & embarked himselfe theire in a London or New 
England shipp whereof Capt. Robt. Thurston was com- 
mander & with a good quaintity of English goods came into 
New England, and thence with Mr. Cuttin unto Severne 
(now Annapolis) & returned to New England with John 
Bennett unto Boston, in New England, and by infailable 
testimony imployed unto Virginia by Mr. Samll Mauericke, 
Mr. Robert Knight & Mr. Nathll Gardner three principal 
merchants livinge in Boston in New England came unto 
mee, and complained that beinge in a New England belong- 
inge unto ye above Mr. Rob't Knight, at Nominy in 
Patomack River att Anker, in a small creeke, aground there, 
came a vessell called ye hobby horse belonging unto & sett 
forth by Left. Coll. Scarburgh with eight armed men ; & in 
his absence did seize his vessel as they s'd for the State of 
England." 

This complaint was laid before the Council by Robins ; 
with what result we shall see later. 

'Massachusetts Historical Register, Vol. XL, p. 8. 
Virginia Carolorum, p. 419. 
Northampton County Records, 1652. 



132 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

As a result of Bennett's orders, and the order from the 
General Assembly in January, 1652, the Dutch merchants 
and residents on the Eastern Shore were subjected to many 
hardships, and were treated roughly throughout the period 
of the Dutch War. Suspected of complicity in the general 
plot to massacre the English, they were regarded with 
suspicion by the other inhabitants of the peninsula, and 
instead of the belief in such a foul design upon their part 
growing less general, it had been greatly strengthened by the 
events which occurred in rapid succession in the more 
northern Colonies. 

In 1653, Uncas, the Mohegan ally of the English in New 
England, had spread a report that Stuyvesant had been plot- 
ting to incite the Narragansetts against the New England 
Colonies, in accordance with the suggestion of the West 
India Company. The report received some confirmation 
from the fact that nine Manhattoe sachems sent messengers 
in March of that year to Stamford to apprise the authorities 
that about a month before, the Dutch Governor had solicited 
them to massacre the English. Excitement became more 
intense and an extraordinary meeting of the Commissioners 
of the United Colonies was accordingly held at Boston, in 
April. Witnesses were examined, and while but slight evi- 
dence tending to corroborate the terrifying reports was ad- 
duced, yet preparations were made to defend the Colonies; 
agents were sent to Manhattan to investigate matters; and 
rumors of the hideous Dutch plot again spread along the 
coast. Before long, the first report had been so exaggerated 
and magnified that the people of Virginia and Maryland, 
especially on the Eastern Shore, firmly believed that they 
were in imminent danger of being massacred by the com- 
bined forces of the Dutch and Indians. In the meantime, 



EASTEEN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 133 

Doughty, the English pastor in Flushing, who later moved 
to Northampton, and Van der Donck, his son-in-law, added 
to the general alarm by various insinuations as to the inten- 
tions of the Dutch. 

Towards the latter part of 1652, not satisfied with the 
trade restrictions which had been imposed upon the Dutch 
inhabitants of the Colony, the people of the Eastern Shore 
were hatching up a plot of their own to prevent the execu- 
tion of Stuyvesant's supposed design. Colonel Scarburgh 
took the lead in this affair, and, if there were to be an Indian 
uprising, and massacre, he proposed to be the chief execu- 
tioner. So alarming became the situation of the innocent 
Dutch inhabitants, that the cooler heads who deprecated 
violence against the latter appealed to the court to protect 
them. An investigation was held by the Commissioners of 
the County and many witnesses examined in order to ascer- 
tain the plans of those persons who conspired against the 
Dutch. Charles Scarburgh, who was forced to testify under 
oath, said that his father could prove the Dutch plot and 
that Colonel Scarburgh claimed that the English were 
justified in setting upon them as a measure of self-protection. 
With the rash Scarburgh at the head of the excited people, 
the Dutch were truly in great danger, for he would have 
been delighted to commence their extermination. Appre- 
ciating this serious state of affairs, the Justices exerted their 
best efforts to counteract the danger, and what further action 
they took to protect the Dutch, we shall see later. 

In March, 1652, Captain Dennis arrived at Jamestown 
and demanded the surrender of the Colony to Parliament, 
and after a slight delay, and no resistance, the capitulation 
was ratified on the 12th of the month. The articles of 
capitulation provided that the Colony of Virginia should be 



10 



134 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

Bubjecl to the Commonwealth of England; that the submis- 
sion should be considered voluntary, not forced or con- 
strained by a conquest upon the country; that the people 
should have and enjoy such freedoms and privileges as be- 
longed to the free-born people of England ; that the Assembly 
should meet as formerly and transact the business of the 
Colony, nothing, however, to be done contrary to the govern- 
ment of England ; that full indemnity should be granted 
for all the offenses against the Parliament of England ; that 
Virginia should have the ancient bounds and limits granted 
by the charters of former Kings; that Virginia should seek 
a new charter from the Parliament to that purpose, ''against 
any that have entrenched on the rights thereof," an allusion, 
no doubt, to Lord Baltimore's intrusion into Maryland ; that 
the privilege of having fifty acres of land for every person 
transported to the colony should continue as formerly 
granted ; that the people of Virginia should have free trade, 
like the people of England, to all places, and with all nations, 
according to the laws of that Commonwealth; and that 
Virginia should enjoy all privileges equally with any English 
plantation of America. 1 

The council appointed for the Commonwealth of Virginia 
included two members from Northampton County, namely, 
Colonel Nathaniel Littleton and Colonel Argoll Yeardley, 
and they were immediately dispatched to the strongly dis- 
affected County of Northampton to obtain the signatures of 
the inhabitants to the following engagement dated the 11th 
of March, the day before the ratification of the articles of 
surrender. During the next thirty days, the signatures of 
one hundred and sixteen of the people of Northampton were 
secured : 

'Campbell's History of Virginia, pp. 217, 218. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 135 

"The Engagm't tendered to ye Inhabitants of North- 
ampton County, Eleaventh of March, 1651 (O. S.) 

"Wee whose Names are subscribed; doe hereby Engage 
and promise to bee true and faithfull to the Commonwealth 
of England as it is nowe Established without Kinge or House 
of Lords. 



25 of 


MARCH 


Nathan'll Littleton 


Nich. Scott 


Obedience Robins 


Anth. Hodgskins 


-Edm. Scarburgh 


Jno. Nuthall 


Edm. Douglas 


Wm. Whittington 


Peter Walker 


Wm. Coake 


Wm. Andrews, Sen'r 


Ben. Cowdrey 


Allex. Addison 


Levyne Denwood 


James Barnabye 


Robert Andrews 


Jno. Pannell 


Ben. Mathews 


Sam'll Sone 


Jno. Stringer 


Jno. Denman 


Allex. Harryson 


James Berry 


Rich. Vaughan 


Phillip Farrant 


Thos. Johnson 


•Jno. Tilney 


Dan'll Baker 


Sampson Robins 


Thomas Hint 


Jno. Ellis 


Thos. Higby 


Jeffery Minshatt 


Jno. Parkes 


Georgine Hacke 


Wm. Stanley 


Rich. Hamby 


Jno. Ayers 


Edw. Harrington 


Robert Harryson 


Nich. Waddelone 


Luke Billington 


Argoll Yeardley 


Randolfe Hutchinson 


Wm. Waters 


Nich. Granger 


Wm. Jones 


Thos. Truman 


Thos. Sprigge 


Allex. Madoxe 


Jno. Dye 


Henr. Armitradinge 


X'ofer Major 


Steph. Charlton 


Wm. Munds 


Jno. Parramore 


Francis Flood 


Jno. Robearts 


Steph. Stringer 


X'ofer Dixon 


X'ofer Jarvis 


Robert Marryott 



136 EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTOEY 



TKICESIMO DIE MARTY 1651 (o. S.) 



Edm. Mathews 
Jno. Custis 
Jno. Johnson, Jim. 
Farmer Jones 
Jno. Dixon 
Jno. Taylor 
Mathew Stone 
Tobine Selve 
Rich. Nottingham 
Nehemiah Coventon 
Francis Morgan 
Wm. Ward 
Jno. Johnson, Senr. 
Edw. Southren 
Jno. Merryfin 
Dan'll Chadwell 
Jno. Teeslocke 
Jno. Conlson 
Jno. Michaell 
Jno. Cornley 
Eich. Newell 
Jno. Lee 
Phill. Merrydayr 
Edw. Moore 
Jno. Brillyant 
Ambrose Dixon 
Wm. Horose 
Robt. Blake 
Rich. Hill 
Jno. Hott 
Edw. Marshall 
Jno. Dolling 
Charles Scarbnrgh 
Walter Williams 
Wm. Stephens 
Jno. Thatcher 



James Johnson 
Elial Hartree 
Charles RatlifTe 
Jno. Graye 
Jno. Willyams 
Randall Revell 
Wm. Smyth 
Wm. Custis 
Tho. Miller 
Robert Baily 
Jno. Whitehead 
Armstrong Foster 
Wm. Andrews, Jim'r 
Sam'l Calvert 
Francis Goodman 
Jno. Willyams 
Wm. Corner 
Rich. Smyth 
Jno. Rutter 
Andrew Hendrye 
Antho. Carpenter 
^Jno. Wise 
Wm. Taylor 
Jno. Waleford 
Mick Richett 
Rich. Bruducke 
Thos. Clarke 
Thos. Crecro 
Sam'l Jones 
Hen. White 
X'ofer Calvert 
James Adkinson 
Wm. Gower 
Wm. Boucher 
Jno. Johnson, Jr. 
Wm. Jordan 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 137 



Rich. Smyth 
David Wheatley 
Robert Berry 
Wm. Preeninge 
Tho. Butterie 
Jno. James 
Tho. Price 
Rich. Baily 
Rich. Hudson 
Rich. Alleyn 
-Jno. Lewis 
Jno. Johnson, Senr. 
Wm. Gaskins 
Nicholas Jueyre 
Stephen Horsey ' 
Jno. Robinson 
Symon Bailey 
Jno. Hinman 
Jno. Coulson 
Phill. Mathews 



X'ofer Kirke 
Thos. Savage 
Sam'll Smothergall 
Wm. Colebourne 
Alex. Maddoxe 
Sam'l Powell 
James Brewce 
Wm. Luddington 
Sam'll Robins 
Jno. Garnell 
David Kiffyn 
Jno. Browne 
Rich. Kellam 
Jno. Edwards 
Wm. Mellinger 
Raph'll Hudson 
Rich. Teggar 
Samuel Goldfine 
Wm. Monitor 
Wm. Browne 



Edw. Leene 

Recordantur vicesimo die Augusty Ano. 1652. 
W/Wv\Ar^A Teste Edm. Mathews. Cloc. Cur." 






In 1647, when the order to return Burgesses was issued 
by the Governor, no call for representatives was made upon 
Northampton County. Indeed, from that time the County 
had had no representative in the Assembly except one Bur- 
gess in 1651. Yet a tax of forty-six pounds of tobacco per 
poll had been levied upon the Eastern Shoremen, of which 
they had bitterly complained. But these were not the only 
sources of dissatisfaction. Parliament, which at first had 
found much support on the peninsula, especially among the 
middle classes and the tradesmen, soon lost favor. 

Such laws as the one of 1650, prohibiting Dutch trade and 
the Navigation Act of the following year, had almost entirely 



138 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

destroyed the Parliamentary Party in Northampton. The 
small planters who did not own their own vessels were forced 
to pay exorbitant freight rates on their tobacco, and even then 
accept a much diminished price for the staple. The Indian 
scare had created the wildest excitement among the people, 
and the policy which the court officers had adopted of pro- 
tecting the Dutch and threatening to punish those who com- 
mitted acts of hostility against them, infuriated the more 
restive spirits of the community. For some time, the belief 
had been quite general among the inhabitants of the pen- 
insula, that Northampton was to become a separate province, 
the conviction being heightened by the failure of the Gov- 
ernor to call for Burgesses. An intense spirit of inde- 
pendence had therefore grown up among the people and 
nothing in common was felt to exist between Northampton 
and the Western Shore. The royalist party, now greatly 
predominant, took advantage of such conditions to strengthen 
its hold. Appreciating the weakness of the Parliamentary 
forces in Virginia, Scarburgh, who hated Puritans, seconded 
by other influential royalists, appealed to the people to resist 
the unjust burdens imposed upon them by the Assembly at 
James City, and to assert their independence of a govern- 
ment, in which their sole participation was to defray its 
expense. The agitators did not fail to extoll the virtues of 
royalty and the old government, and the people, already in 
an ugly mood, daily assembled at the wharfs and public 
houses to listen to the harangues of the incendiaries. After 
several days of such excitement, six prominent citizens of 
the County were selected by vote of the people to draw up a 
protest against their present condition and to act in all things 
as the best interest of the people might demand. Accord- 
ingly, on March 30th, when the Commonwealth of Virginia 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 139- 

was but eighteen days old, the following protest was drawn 
up by the People's Committee, whicfe, while not signed by 
Colonel Scarburgh, may be attributed largely to his influence. 
This obscure but historic instrument deserves the attention 
of those sons of other sections of America who proclaim 
themselves with so much candor to be the fathers of 
Independence : 

"The xxxth of March, Ano. 1652. 

"Wee whose names are und written this daye made choyce 
of by the Inhabitants of Northampton Countie in Virginia 
to give Informacons and Instruccons to ye gent Ellected 
Burgesses for this prsent Grand Assemblie (in relacon to 
such matters as conduce to our peace & Saftie). And for 
ye Redresse of those aggreevances wch (att prsent) wee are 
capable & sensible of in our Countie of Northampton. 

"Imprmis. Wee the Inhabitants of Northampton Countie 
doe complayne that from tyme to tyme (pticular yeares 
past) wee have been submitted & bine obedient unto the 
paymt of publeq Taxacons. Butt after ye yeare 1647, since 
yt tyme wee Conceive & have found that ye taxes were very 
weightie. But in a more espetiall manner (undr favor) wee 
are very sensible of the Taxacon of fTorty sixe pounds of 
tobacco p. poll (this present yeare). And desire yt ye same 
bee taken off ye charge of ye Countie; furthermore wee 
alledge that after 1647, wee did understand & suppose or 
Countie or Northampton to bee disioynted & sequestered 
from ye rest of Virginia. Therefore that Llawe wch re- 
quireth & inioyneth Taxacons from us to bee Arbitrarye & 
illegall ; fforasmuch as wee had neither summons for Ellecon 
of Burgesses nor voyce in their Assemblye (during the time 
aforesd) but only the Singlur Burgess in September, Ano., 
1651. Wee conceive that wee may Lawfullie ptest agt the 
pceedings in the Act of Assemblie for publiq Taxacons wch 
have relacon to Northmton Countie since ye year 1647. 

"The Gent who are (att prsent) to speak in our behalf e 



140 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

can sufficiently declare what is necessary to bee expressed to 
this effect wch wee referr to them. 

"Our desire is that there may bee an annual Choyce of 
.Magistrates in Northmton. And, if our Countie may not 
have ye privilege of a pcculir govrmt & propriety (att prsent) 
granted wth in our prcincts that then you Request and plead 
that all Causes, Suite of Trvalls (of what nature soevr) may 
bee concerned (for future tyme), determined in our sd 
Countie of Northampton. 

"If there bee a free & genr all vote for a Governor wherein 
they shall Ellcct Mr. Richard Bennett Wee the inhabitants 
of Northampton Countie wth unanimous consent & plenary, 
aprobacon Rendr our voyce for the sd Esq. Bennett. 

"The people doe further desire that ye Taxacons for fforty 
sixe pounds of tobac a heead maye not bee collected by the 
sheriffs (until ansrw of the questions from the Grand 
Assemblie nowe summoned). 

"Witness our hands subscribed the day & yeare aforesd. 
Stephen Charlton Wm. Whittington 

Llevyne Denwood Jno. Ellis 

Jno. Nuthall Steph. Horsey 

"Recordatr Decimo Mense May, 1652, p. me Edm. 
Mathews, Clic. Cur." 

This then was the Northampton Protest. Whatever may 
be the claims of other sections of the country to priority of 
concerted remonstrance against Great Britain in the follow- 
ing century, whether the palm be accorded the adherents of 
the Mecklenburg Declaration, of the Fincastle Resolutions, 
or the people of Massachusetts, the first organized remon- 
strance against British Authority in the form of a protest 
against taxation without representation was made by the 
people of Northampton County, Virginia, March 30, 1652, 
antedating all the others by one hundred and twenty-odd 



EASTERN SHOKE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 141 

years; and yet, not a single historian of onr country has 
dwelt upon the importance of this Protest. It may be said 
that such a remonstrance, directed against local authority, 
is unworthy of the significance which the writer claims for 
it. And here let us ask, to whom was the Northampton 
Protest directed ? Was it directed to the Commonwealth of 
Virginia ? No. It was a direct protest against the 
authority of the Commonwealth of England, which, from 
March 12th, to April 30th, 1652, was represented by Parlia- 
mentary Commissioners, not chosen by the people, nor any 
section of the people of Virginia. 

Events the next few months, however, only aggravated the 
complaint. On the 13th of June, 1652, Richard Husband, 
master of the ship "Hopeful Adventure," seized the ship of 
Mr. Walter Chiles, "who on January 24th, 1651-2 had sett 
sayle with his owne shipp" called the "Fame of Virginia," 
to Rotterdam and was "in the Road of Accomac" on the 
return to James City when the said Husband came up. 
Husband's pretext was that Chiles had no license from the 
Parliament and was bound with the cargo to Brazil. Chiles 
petitioned the Court of Northampton for relief, maintaining 
that the seizure was "contrary to ye peace of this countrye. 
And also contry to ye agreemt made by ye Comrs that were 
appointed by ye keeprs of the Liberty es of England and to 
ye damage of ye petr towe thousands pounds sterl." 

The Court, thereupon, ordered Husband to restore the 
ship and cargo, the seizure of which was pronounced •"con- 
trary to the treaty with the Parliamentary Comrs." But 
Husband sailed away with his prize, and the Court ordered 
such writings to be dispatched "as may be necessary to 
prosecute Husband before the Honble State of England." 

While such important events were transpiring, the Court 



142 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

had been busying itself with protecting the demoralized 
Dutch inhabitants. The people, under the leadership of the 
fiery Searburgh, were now getting beyond the control of the 
< "lnmissioners who were forced to lay the unhappy state of 
affairs before the Council of 1652 and acknowledge their 
inability to handle the alarming situation: 

"Wee the Commissioners of Northampton County re- 
ceived from the Dutchmen in generall (inhabitants of this 
County) wherein, they do not only complain, of a ruinous 
violence, suddenly to be acted upon them to their utter ruin, 
But also desire a declaration to your honors, the sense of 
their present condition, and their compliance and ready 
obedience to the State of England and all the laws estab- 
lished in this Colony. We do therefore certify that they do 
and have behaved themselves like honest men and legal sub- 
jects to the government they live under, having subscribed 
the Engagement, and performed all things, that is required 
of them in order to their obedience, from whereunto (in 
reason) they might expect protection. We are also of opin- 
ion, that unless they have an order now to secure them, not 
only they but the whole County (if not the whole Country) 
will be in danger of disturbance how sad consequences that 
may produce. We refer together with our opinions to your 
. judgment." 

This report was signed by Obedience Robins, Edward 
Douglas, Wm. Andrews, Thos. Johnson, Jno. Stringer, Wm. 
Jones, and 3ir. Whittington. Effective steps seem to have 
prevented any concerted action against the unfortunate 
Dutchmen, whose departure would have been a desirable 
end to many, since much money was due them as merchants. 

In May, 1653, Governor Stuyvesant of New Netherlands, 
in obedience to instructions from Holland to arrange, if 
possible, a treaty with Virginia, sent Van Tienhoven, the 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 143 

Treasurer, and Van Hattern, one of the burgomasters of 
New Amsterdam, to James City to negotiate with Governor 
Bennett, but the Virginia authorities were not at liberty to 
make any such arrangements with the Dutch, and informed 
the Commissioners that the matter would have to be referred 
to the Council of State in England. 1 Not only were these 
Commissioners sent to negotiate a treaty, but to seek pro- 
tection for the Dutch citizens of Northampton, grave fears 
for the safety of whom had been entertained by their friends 
of Manhattan. The Commissioners assured the Governor 
that no possible foundation for the rumors of an offensive 
alliance between the Dutch and the Indians existed, and as 
a result of this the danger which had confronted the Dutch 
inhabitants of the peninsula was in large measure averted. 

In the meantime, the Justices had become involved in a 
disagreement among themselves, and Captain Johnson re- 
fused to join in their measures. So acute became the dis- 
sention of the Commissioners that the people themselves took 
up the matter, looking upon Johnson as their champion. 
The trouble came to a climax in June, 1653, when Captain 
Johnson assembled the people in Dr. George Hacke's old 
field and read aloud to them certain orders of the Commis- 
sioners of which he disapproved. Wild disorder followed, 
and Stephen Horsey, 2 who was one of the People's Com- 
mittee, and who had subscribed his name to the Protest in 
^heir behalf, cried out that the Commissioners were a "com- 
pany of asses and villyanes," and thereupon the throng 
voiced his sentiments by cheering vociferously and assumed 

^rodhead's Hist, of N. Y., p. 559. O'Callaghan's Hist, of New 
Netherlands. Albany Records. 

2 Afterwards a prominent Quaker and citizen of Maryland. 



144 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

a very defiant attitude towards the authorities. 1 Becoming 
greatly alarmed by such proceedings and realizing their 
inability to prevent a recurrence of such gatherings, the 
( '"mmissioners determined to call upon the government at 
James City for support. The affair in Dr. Hacke's field 
was represented as a revolt and evidence was collected to 
bring the instigators to justice. Those citizens of the County, 
who had taken no part in the Protest nor in the subsequent 
disorders, now became greatly alarmed. Things were mov- 
ing too rapidly in the wrong direction to suit the conserva- 
tives, who in turn met and selected a committee to protect 
their interests. Forthwith a petition was drafted, denying 
that the reported revolt was general among the citizens of 
Northampton, and setting forth that the disturbances of the 
preceding month were all due to the rumor that a great sum 
of money was to be raised by the Commissioners, in order 
to satisfy Mr. Walter Chiles for the loss of the ship taken 
by Captain Richard Husband. 2 But things had progressed 
to a dangerous state, and whether the revolt had become 
general or not the county authorities were utterly unable to 
cope with it, and appealed to the government again for 
immediate aid, whereupon the following measures were taken 
by that body in July: 

"Whereas the paper subscribed by name of the inhabitants 
of Northampton Countie is scandalous and seditious and 
hath caused much disturbance in the peace and government 
of that County, It is therefore ordered by this present Grand 
Assembly, That all the subscribers of the said paper bee 

'See in Northampton Records, June 1653, affidavits of Thos. Harman- 
son, and Dr. John Severne. An Act of Assembly naturalizing Thos. 
Harmanson: "a German born in the Dominion of Bradenburg but now 
an inhabitant in Northampton County, professing Protestant Religion." 
Dated 24th of Oct. 1684. 

"Northampton County Records. Hening's Statutes. William and 
Mary Quarterly, Vol. I, p. 189-193. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 145 

disabled from bearing any office in this country, and that 
Leift. Edmund Scarburgh, who hath been an assistant and 
instrument concerneing the subscribeing of the same bee also 
disabled from bearing any office until he hath answered 
thereunto, and the honourable Governor & Secretaire be 
intreated to go over to Accomack with such assistants as 
the house shall think fitt, for the settlement of the peace of 
that countie, and punishinge delinquents. (This order re- 
versed by an order of Assembly, 26th March, 1658. ) x 

"According to an order of this Assembly, upon the peti- 
tion of Coll. Nathaniel Littleton, Coll. Argoll Yeardley, 
Major William Andrews, and some other commissioners of 
Northampton County, Master Speaker, Left. Coll. Edward 
Major. Left. Coll. Geo. Fletcher, Coll. Thomas Dew, and 
Left, Coll. Rob't Pitt are nominated as assistants to attend 
the Governour and Secretarie for the settlement of the peace 
of that county, and the punishments of delinquents there 
according to their demerits, the appointment of all officers 
both for peace and warr, the division of that county, and the 
hearing and determineing of the businesse of damages between 
Capt. Daniel How and Left. Coll. Edm'd Scarburgh, As 
also between Capt. John Jacob and the said Edmund Scar- 
burgh, with all other matters and things necessary and inci- 
dent for the preservation of the peace of that place, ffor 
which this shall be their commission, The charges which the 
said Commissioners shall be at, both in goeing, stayinge 
there and returneiug, to be levied upon those persons that 
occasioned their repair thither." 2 

A few days after the passage of the foregoing acts by the 
Assembly, Governor Bennett, and the party of gentlemen 
selected to attend him in his investigation of affairs on the 
Eastern Shore, left James City for Northampton. One 
authority states that an armed force was taken over by the 
Governor to suppress the disturbance which Scarburgh had 

'Hening, Vol. I, p. 380. 
2 Hening. Vol. I, p. 384. 



146 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

caused among the royalists, 1 but of such action no mention 
is to be found in the records of the County. If such was the 
case the force must have been a small one, in the nature of 
a military escort, as befitting the dignity of the Governor 
and his commission, and there was certainly no threatened 
conflict between the guard and the agitators. 

Upon arriving in Northampton, the Governor immediately 
instituted a court of investigation on July 29th, and com- 
plaints were laid before this court as to the mutinous and 
seditious actions of certain individuals of the county, as 
being repugnant to the Government of the Parliamentary 
Commission. A number of the agitators were presented and 
fined three hundred pounds of tobacco, and held to be in- 
capacitated from holding further oflice under the previous 
Act of Assembly. Among them was Captain Thomas 
Johnson, whose offense must have been more serious than 
that of the others, for he was fined five hundred pounds of 
tobacco and bound over to keep the peace. At this same 
meeting of the court the Governor approved the sale of a 
Dutch prize ship, the "St. John of Amsterdam," for fifty 
thousands pounds of tobacco. This ship with another had 
been captured on July 5th. 

An order had already been sent to the court from James 
City to arrest Colonel Edmund Searburgh, who had been 
reported to have a large store of arms and ammunition on 
board of one of his Indian trading ships. The selling of 
arms to Indians was at this time a grave violation of the 
law. Troubles were springing up about the Colonel on all 
sides. He was getting deeper and deeper in the mire. A 
less brilliant and less able man would have assuredly suc- 
cumbed beneath the pressure brought to bear upon him by 

^rank P. Brent, Vol. XI, Va. Hist. Collect., p. 188. 



EASTERN" SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 147 

his enemies. Shorn of his political offices by the Assembly, 
charged with seditious conduct, indicted for a grave breach 
of the law, with the "Hobby Horse" affair still hanging over 
him, and a serious suit for damages brought by Captain 
Howe still pending, he was in a sad predicament. The 
aspect of affairs was too threatening for the Colonel's liking, 
so he decided to leave the jurisdiction for a time. Entrust- 
ing his aifairs to the care of his friends, to be untangled by 
them as best they could manage in his absence, he disap- 
peared from the county. The various charges and suits 
against Scarburgh, and the task of quieting the inhabitants, 
occupied the attention of the Governor for over a year ; the 
greater part of which time he spent with his suite on the 
peninsula. Scarburgh himself, it is thought, proceeded to 
New Amsterdam and then to Boston, at both of which places 
he had commercial interests. It is very probable that he was 
the agent of the Northampton planters who in November, 
1653, notified the Dutch in Manhattan, that if they would 
send their ships to Smith's Island, just off the Cape, a large 
supply of tobacco would be found awaiting shipment. At 
any rate, as the Dutch were as anxious to buy as the 
desperate planters were to sell, arrangements were imme- 
diately made by the former to secure the crop. 

The following month, the Governor and Council of New 
Amsterdam "resolved for the promotion of so laudable an 
object, as the continuation of peace, increase of commerce 
& cultivation of correspondence between old friends and co- 
religionists," to send once more a commissioner to Virginia 
and authorized and commanded "the Reverend and very 
learned Mr. Samuel Drisius, Minister of the Gospel," to go 
and inquire of the Governor and Council of Virginia 
whether they had heard from England in relation to the 



148 EASTERN" SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

proposition which had been made in the early summer. 
They deputed him to propose that if no directions had been 
received, "a provisional continuation of commerce and inter- 
course between the two places" might be made, to be ter- 
minated after six days' notice to merchants and traders, to 
protect them from loss. While Drisius was unable to secure 
a treaty, an understanding was arrived at between New 
Netherlands and Virginia, and the way was paved for a 
formal treaty in 1660. 1 Not altogether disappointed by his 
failure to secure the treaty which he was sent to negotiate, 
the good Doniine repaired to the peninsula, where he was 
assured of a kind reception and not only preached the Gospel, 
but arranged for the purchase of the tobacco crop, then stored 
on Smith's Island; a deal, mutually advantageous to the 
planters and the Dutch, though in direct violation of the 
law, and a more or less questionable proceeding on the part 
of a minister. 2 His mission to the Eastern Shore at this 
time was no doubt in part due to the desire of the Dutch to 
protect their people there. It is possible that the explanation 
of this reformed churchman being allowed to preach in 
Hungar's Parish is that he was allowed to do so in order 
that he might explain to the people the false light in which 
his countrymen had been placed by the unfounded reports 
as to their designs. At any rate, his mission, so far as it 
regarded the tobacco crop, had a conciliating effect, if his 
words from the pulpit had none, and we hear no more of 
troubles with the Dutch inhabitants. 

On May 29, 1654, a committee of magistrates appointed 
to investigate the matter of selling arms to the Indians re- 

^rodhead's Hist, of N. Y., 562, 683. O'Callaghan's Hist, of New 
Netherlands, Vol. II, 236, 237. Albany Records, Vol. IV, pp. 100, 107, 
111, 117. Vol. VII, p. 328. Vol. IX, pp. 57-59. 

2 See Chapter on Early Church. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 149 

ported that certain ships and the house of Colonel Scarburgh 
had been carefully searched and that no powder, shot, nor 
arms had been discovered, except a chest of fowling pieces 
belonging to a Mr. Bateman. Scarburgh had, no doubt, 
succeeded in concealing the contraband goods. 

During the preceding year, the inhabitants had requested 
that the Court should be held in turn at Cheriton Creek, 
Occahannock and Hungar's, or the Horns, and so on in 
turn, and that these should be the polling places for the 
election of Burgesses. It was at the Court of July 8th, 
1654, convening at the last named place, Governor Bennett, 
the Secretary and eight Justices being present, that the 
Sheriff complained that "whereas there are divers orders, 
sequestrations & executions, against the estate and person of 
Lieft. Col. Edmund Scarburgh, yet the said Scarburgh hath 
in great contempt carried part of his estate so sequestered 
out of the Colony, and withall gone out of the Colony, and 
wholly neglected either to pay his debts, or answer the suits. 
Therefore the said Sheriff humbly prayeth that he may be 
impowered to attach the estate of the said Scarburgh any 
where remaining in the County of Accomacke; which the 
Court condescends unto." 

Before leaving the County, Scarburgh had leased his 
estate called "Occahannock" and sold a number of his 
vessels to a Mr. Bunton of Boston. The lease was for four- 
teen years or until his son Edmund arrived at his majority. 
Such hasty preparations for departure seem to indicate 
that the time of his return was very uncertain. While in 
New Amsterdam or Boston, however, it is quite certain that 
he received assurances as to a favorable adjustment of his 
affairs, should he return to his home, otherwise he would 
not have placed himself within reach of the authorities. 



i i 



150 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

with such serious charges outstanding against him. Then, 
too, an alliance between his son, Colonel Charles Scarburgh, 
and the Governor's daughter, bore some weight in the delib- 
erations of the Court. It is true that the governor had ap- 
pointed John James in October, 1653, to fill the office of 
County Surveyor, which Scarburgh had previously held; 
but this was because of the disability imposed upon him by 
the Assembly and his absence from the County. Land 
boundaries had become much confused and gave rise to such 
unending contentions, that a new surveyor became necessary 
and he was ordered to make a record for the court of all 
bounds. One of his first entries was, "cursed be the man 
that removeth the mark of his neighbor's land." It does 
not take much of an imagination to see in this entry an 
admonition to Scarburgh himself, who had evidently been 
careless in the keeping of his records. 

By August, 1654, Scarburgh had returned to take charge 
of matters himself, and with rare skill he made a flanking 
move to divert the attack of his enemies. In other words, 
he at once instituted suit against Major General Edward 
Gibbons, a Bostonian, a New Englander, a foreigner, with 
whom he had owned the trading ship "Artillery," which 
Gibbons had kept without making returns. Gibbons' prop- 
erty in Northampton was forthwith attached. And what 
did this mean ? The Colonel's ship, "The Ann Clear," while 
loading in Occahannock Creek with tobacco, had been robbed 
of certain goods, during his absence ? Can it be that Captain 
Jacob, another despised foreigner, had retaliated ? At any 
rate the court was asked to investigate the outrage to a 
citizen of Northampton, and proceeded to do so. The famous 
Colonel, skilled in mathematics, trade, politics, and human 
nature, was too much for them all. The allied forces of 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 151 

Parliament and the Dutch were out-maneuvered and utterly- 
routed by the generalship of Scarburgh, and by the Grand 
Assembly held at James City, March 26, 1655, before which 
he appeared on a warrant, he was "acquitted of all charges 
& crimes made against him for matters of trade, & etc., and 
further reinvested in such offices & employment as he before 
held in the Colony." 1 

Unscrupulous have we called Colonel Edmund Scar- 
burgh ? Yes. But brilliant too ; exceedingly brilliant, and 
a power in his day. The charges of piracy, mutiny, sedition, 
selling weapons to the Indians, and debt, rolled from his 
back, and again we find him as Surveyor General of the 
Colony taking up the duties of his office; but this time 
under the authority of a new master, Parliament. Scar- 
burgh's reputation was not a local one. His ships had 
touched at every port in New England, had frequently 
visited New Amsterdam; had traded upon the Hudson, the 
Delaware, and as far south as Florida. The owner of these 
vessels had an inter-colonial reputation as the most enter- 
prising merchant in the mother colony of Virginia; and 
he himself had spent much time at the various ports of the 
Atlantic Coast, while establishing and building up his trade. 
The sweeping decree of the Assembly, which released him 
from his tormentors and rehabilitated him in the eyes of the 
law, enabled him to set out for New Amsterdam to reinstate 
himself in the good graces of the Dutch, who were naturally 
much offended by his treatment of them. Although his 
fame had preceded him to Manhattan, during the summer 
he succeeded in reestablishing himself in that quarter, by 
buying there a large number of slaves, thus placating the 
greedy Hollanders, who carried on a profitable traffic in 

^ening, Vol. I, p. 380. Also Act of Assembly, 1668. 



152 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

human flesh. But the Dutch authorities were wise enough 
to appreciate what might happen if Scarburgh were per- 
mitted to enter the Delaware River, in view of the treatment 
his ship, the "Seahorse," had received there four years be- 
fore; so while he was extended the privilege of trade with 
Manhattan, he was not allowed to take his slaves away with 
him until he had given bond that he would not enter the 
Delaware, nor stop on his way south to trade with any of the 
other Dutch plantations. 1 

1 Neill's Virginia Carolorum, p. 240. Northampton County Records. 



X 

The Quakers. The Maryland Boundary Troubles and 

THE ASSATEAGUE War 

The population of Northampton County in 1653, may be 
closely estimated. The white tithables at that time num- 
bered five hundred and included only males over eighteen 
years of age. 1 Four times the number of tithables would be 
considered a safe estimate of the population, giving the 
county about two thousand inhabitants exclusive of the 
Indians. From this estimate we see that the population had 
doubled in ten years. 

The feeling of independence, common to the people of 
Northampton, had increased, rather than diminished, since 
the suppression of the disturbances incident to the protest 
of 1652. The grievances set forth in the protest had made 
some impression upon the Assembly in spite of the general 
condemnation of that paper, and also of the fact that it had 
been characterized as seditious, for by Act II of the General 
Assembly of 1655, dated March 10th, it was provided that 
the people of Northampton were to have the liberty of 
constituting laws and customs amongst themselves and to 
proceed according to their own convenience with respect to 
manufactures and the Indians, so long as their regulations 
were not repugnant to the laws of England, provided that all 
such regulations should be confirmed by the Assembly. 2 On 

Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. V, p. 125. 
2 Hening, Vol. I, p. 396. 

153 



154 EASTEEN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTOEY 

March 31st, of this same year, the Assembly ordered that 
the Court of Northampton should be held on the 28th day 
of the month, alternately in the upper and lower part of the 
county. From the head of Hungar's Creek to the widow 
Billiott's house was to be the dividing line, this house being 
in the lower precinct; and distinct commissioners for each 
division were to be designated. 1 On March 7, 1658, the 
Assembly passed the following act: 

"Whereas an act of Assembly had formerly provided, that 
in regard of the greate distance between Northampton 
Countie and James Cittie, that noe appeale should lie from 
the said Countie, to the quarter courte, under the value of 
three thousand two hundred pounds of tobacco or thirty 
pounds sterling, It is Hereby Enacted and Confirmed, That 
for the reasons aforesaid no appeale be hereafter made, from 
thence, nor admitted in the quarter courte, unless it exceed 
the valew aforesaid." 2 

On May 7, 1655, before the meeting-house designated for 
the court for that month, the Act of Assembly of the previous 
March requiring a place of mart was read to the people of 
Northampton. After much debate and consultation, a vote 
was taken, and Occahannock Creek was selected as the place 
for the official port and as the site for the church or meeting- 
house, the Clerk's and Sheriff's offices and the prison and 
other public buildings directed by the Assembly. It was 
determined to buy the land of Richard Kellam as the best 
site for these structures. 

Into such close relations were many of the people of 
Northampton thrown with the Marylanders that it became 
necessary for Governor Digges to issue a proclamation, dated 

a Hening, Vol. I, p. 409. 
2 Hening, Vol. I, p. 520. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 155 

June 9, 1655, forbidding Virginians to meddle with the 
troubles of the adjoining colony. Already disputes as to 
the boundary were giving much trouble to the authorities of 
Northampton, for many persons were really unable to tell 
whether they were citizens of Maryland or Virginia ; and 
others took advantage of the situation to elude the tax col- 
lectors and the sheriff. 

Toward the latter part of 1657, a ship arrived at James- 
town with Thomas Thurston and Josiah Cole, the first 
preachers of the Society of Friends to come to Virginia. 
They were promptly arrested as disturbers of the peace and 
imprisoned, but being soon released they repaired to Mary- 
land. Soon after the arrival of Thurston and Cole, Quakers 
began in great numbers to make their appearance on the 
Eastern Shore of Maryland, and in the northern part of 
Northampton, where population was comparatively scarce 
and where they could establish themselves without much, 
interference. \ 

The enmity of the churchmen of Northampton was early 
aroused by these newcomers, and vigorous measures were 
taken to drive them out of the county. It was made an 
offense to hold any friendly intercourse with them or to deal 
with them in any way. On January 29, 1657, before 
Thurston or Cole had arrived in the Colony, Henry Vaux 
was arrested and brought before the court of Northampton 
for entertaining William Robinson, Quaker, at his house \ 
and Robinson was ordered to be sent across the Bay to the 
Governor in custody of the Sheriff. Vaux himself was to 
be dispatched with him in case he persisted in his relations 
with the Quakers. 

William Robinson was perhaps the most conspicuous 
Quaker Missionary in Northampton, and held conventicles 



156 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

in many of the planters' homes. His influence must have 
been very great, for it extended to all parts of the Colony. 
He seems to have met with the usual trials of the missionary 
in a hostile land, for six of the fourteen months he spent in 
Virginia were passed in jail. Robinson continued his 
activity in importing his brethren whenever he was at liberty, 
and under the pretense of transporting them to Paxtuxuent, 
he would land them at Nassawaddox, where they were re- 
ceived by Levin Denwood, who provided a ten-foot log cabin 
for a house of worship. This was probably the first Quaker 
meeting-house in Virginia, and continued to be used as such 
until converted into a wheat barn. A much better structure 
was erected later at Nassawaddox, for after the Act of Toler- 
ation, passed in 1688, George Brickhouse, of Northampton, 
left to the Quaker sect an acre of land surrounding the 
meeting-house, and Mrs. Judith Patrick bequeathed thirty 
shillings for the repair of the building. 1 

The Quaker Colony on the Eastern Shore must have in- 
creased rapidly, for in March, 1660, the Virginia Assembly 
passed very stringent laws against these strange people who 
were accused by the Accomackians of slandering the clergy, 
of defying the laws, and of uttering blasphemy. The records 
show evidence against them all of denying the incarnation 
of Christ, and against some of speaking of God as "a foolish 
old man." Such words very naturally aroused the bitter 
opposition of the other settlers and brought down upon the 
Quakers' heads all the harsh treatment of which religious 
hatred and intolerance are capable. 

The preamble of the Act of 1660 describes the Quakers 
as "an unreasonable and turbulent sort of people, who daily 

Northampton County Records, Vol. 1683-89, p. 400; Vol. 1689-98, 
p. 435. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 157 

gather together unlawful assembles of people, teaching lies, 
miracles, false visions, prophecies, and doctrines tending to 
disturb the peace, disorganize Society, and destroy all law, 
and government, and religion." Masters of vessels were 
prohibited by the act from bringing in any of that sect, 
under penalty of one hundred pounds of tobacco; and if 
any were imported they were to be apprehended and com- 
mitted until they should give security that they would leave 
the Colony. If they should return, they were to be punished, 
and upon returning a second time they were to be proceeded 
against as felons. No person should entertain Quakers that 
had been questioned by the Governor and Council ; nor per- 
mit any assembly of them in or near his house, under the 
penalty of one hundred pounds sterling ; and the publication 
of their writings was prohibited. 1 For the violation of this 
law, William Colbourne, Henry White, Thomas Leatherbury 
and Ambrose Dixon were arrested and sent to James City 
for a hearing before the Council. 

Behind such a law, it is easy to detect the influence of 
our devout and tolerant clergy. It was only human nature, 
however, that these teachers of God's word should exemplify 
their maxims of love and charity by striving to destroy all 
who did not conform to the established church. This law 
not only countenanced public persecution, but directly en- 
couraged it, until the poor Friends cried out in the wilder- 
ness with much truth that "the Indians, whom they judged 
to be heathen, exceeded the whites in kindness, in courtesies, 
in love, and mercy unto them, who were strangers." Are 
we not constrained to cry out with them, O Christ, what 
sins are committed in thy merciful name ! 

Weiring, Vol. 1, p. 532-3. 



158 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

So harsh was their treatment at the hands of the Aceo- 
mackians that most of these poor persecuted creatures moved 
across the boundary into Maryland, where they were handled 
not less tenderly by their brethren, the Catholics. 1 

By the latter part of the century, those who withstood 
the trials imposed upon them seem to have won the respect 
of the Accomackians, for, between 1680 and 1690, there 
Mere Quakers living quietly and unmolested in Accomac. 
It is on record that Thomas Brown and his wife, though 
Quakers, were yet of such known integrity that their affirma- 
tion was received instead of their oath. Their home was 
"Brownville," on the seashore of Northampton, where they 
were visited by many distinguished Friends from Philadel- 
phia, who came to have fellowship with them in their 
peculiar mode of worship. 2 Mr. and Mrs. Brown were the 
ancestors of the Eastern Shore Upshurs, one of whom, the 
late T. T. Upshur, frequently quoted in these pages, lived 
at "Brownville," where he died in January, 1910. 

During the year 1659, the Indians seem to have given 
much trouble to the authorities of Northampton County, or 
perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the Acco- 
mackians were a source of great trouble to the Indians. The 
records of Maryland and Northampton County contain 
numerous complaints from the natives who were being 
pushed farther and farther north by the whites. They 
declared that their land was taken from them and that their 
crops were destroyed by the herds of cattle and horses which 
roamed over the country at large. Receiving no redress, 
some of the Assateagues committed depredations upon the 
whites by way of retaliation. 

*See Founders of Maryland, Neill. 
2 Meade's Old Churches, etc. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 159 

The Assateagues inhabited the country about where the 
Accomack and Maryland boundary is described on the map. 
The larger portion of the tribe lived on the Maryland side. 

What particular offenses they were guilty of, at the time 
in question, is not known, but on the 28th of August, 1659, 
Colonel Edmund Scarburgh wrote the Governor of Maryland 
from Occahannock that he had been ordered by the Governor 
of Virginia to inform him of his plans of campaign against 
the Assateagues, and to seek his support and cooperation. 

"In ten days/' wrote Scarburgh, "I shall leave here with 
three hundred men and sixty horses, sloops, and all other 
things necessary for the campaign, and arrangements have 
been made for a similar supporting party." 

Since the Indians were harder to catch than to conquer, 
it was his plan of campaign to establish a garrison on the 
seaside near the head of the Wicocomoko 1 River and main- 
tain himself in the heart of their country, and while pre- 
venting them from planting corn, hunting and fishing, he 
would also try to prevent other Indians from receiving the 
Assateagues, so as eventually to starve them into submission. 
Scarburgh suggested that for the present it would be well 
to make war upon the Assateagues only, but thought it might 
be well also for the Governor of Maryland to awe the 
Nanticokes and assist him in preventing all intercourse 
between them and the Assateagues. He then, assuring the 
Governor of his earnest support, called attention to the fact 
that this was a most auspicious opportunity to execute the 
foregoing plans. 2 

'Wicocomoko — Where the houses are building. 
Proceedings of Maryland Council, 1657-60, p. 379. 



160 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

The Governor of Virginia had a few days before dis- 
patched the following communication : 

"For the honnoble Governor and 

Secretary of Maryland. These. 
"The concearne of saftie depending on those persons in 
trust directed the Intelligence of our present designes against 
the Assateague Indians and Confederats, which we have 
accommodated with sufficient forces, now presumeing the 
advantages of this opportunity lying before you reasons 
politicall, will press your Endeavours to assault the comon 
Enemy who soe long triumphed in the ruines of Christian 
bloud, the Warr on the Sea Side wilbe on our parts prosected, 
and if the Nanticoke and Confederats be the subject of your 
like Designe, it may if not utterly Extinguish yet sufficiently 
Subject the Insolencies of those Indians who now despise 
the English Honnour: Use and improve this from 

Yorn humble Servant, 

Samuel Matthewes. 

For the honnoble Josias ffendall 

Governor of Maryland. These." 1 

It took this communication a month to reach Governor 
Fendall, who immediately replied that he hoped his failure 
to give a definite answer then would not be taken amiss, for 
before he committed himself he would like to lay the matter 
before his council. 2 

The following month, after the matter had been submitted 
to the council, Governor Fendall wrote the Governor of 
Virginia to the effect that, since Virginia only contemplated 
a war upon the Assateagues, and had not asked for assistance 
against them, he did not see what he could do, for the Mary- 
landers had no just cause of war against the Nanticokes. 

Proceedings of Maryland Council, 1657-1660, p. 379, 380. 
2 Ibid. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 161 

Furthermore, he did not know the cause of war between the 
Virginians and the Assateagues, but assured the Governor of 
Virginia of assistance on all just and proper occasions. 

The expedition upon the part of the Virginians was not 
abandoned, and the Assembly at Jamestown on March 13, 
1660, made an appropriation to defray the expenses of the 
"late war in Accomack." 

"Ordered that seventy thousand five hundred pounds of 
tobacco, the same allowance of the souldiers that were car- 
ried over to Accomack, be also paid to the inhabitants of 
Accomack for the full charge of all the late warr, Provided 
that twenty-two thousand six hundred eighty-one pounds of 
tobacco be deducted out of the same, It being paid for the 
debt long since due from the said county to the publique." 1 

From the above, it would seem that some of the men of 
Scarburgh's force were sent from the Western Shore. That 
such a step was necessary, seems highly improbable. The 
Assateagues could not have numbered more than two hundred 
warriors at the most. But Colonel Scarburgh loved war, as 
we have seen, and was determined to extirpate the Indians, 
and no doubt used his influence at Jamestown to secure the 
government's assistance. 

In accordance with Lord Baltimore's directions to colonize 
the lower part of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Philip 
Calvert, in 1661, appointed Colonel Edmund Scarburgh of 
Accomac, 2 John Elzey, and Randall Revell, Commissioners, 
to grant lands there to such persons as would take the oath of 
fidelity to Lord Baltimore. About this time, settlers were 
taking up the land on the Accomac side and driving the 
Quakers across the boundary. This line was not really well 
defined. It had been a subject of dispute for years. Shortly 

'Hening's Statutes, Vol. I, p. 551. 

2 Archives of Maryland, Council Proceedings, 1636-1667. p. 452. 



162 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

after the Maryland Colony was planted, there seem to have 
been encroachments upon the Accomac territory south of 
Watkin's Point. It appears that Governor Harvey acquiesced 
in this trespass on Virginia's land, for in 1638, with the ad- 
vice of Council, he issued a proclamation declaring the East- 
ern portion of the boundary of Virginia (that between Mary- 
land and Accomac) to be the river Anancock, 1 and command- 
ing the inhabitants not to trade with the Indians north of this 
limit, which was far south of Watkin's Point, Soon after 
this, Virginia took unopposed possession of Smith Island, 
which lies in the Chesapeake Bay, far north of any possible 
line described in the Maryland charter. Virginia still holds 
a portion of this island. 

A letter from the Protector to the Virginia authorities, 
written just previous to the downfall of the Commonwealth, 
contained an injunction against further contentions concern- 
ing the matter. 2 

The laws of conformity had pressed so hard upon the 
Quakers in Accomac that they were driven to the north and 
west of the mouth of the Pocomoke. This river runs from 
the northeast of the peninsula to a point just east of Cedar 
Straits, and then it suddenly broadens out into a sound of 
considerable width at its mouth. That part of its north bank 
embraced by the lands of the Little Annamessex River, be- 
tween that and Pocomoke Sound, consists mainly of salt 
marshes, not then desirable for settlement, and not easily 
accessible from Accomac. The Quaker refugees from Acco- 
mac congregated in the Little and Big Annamessex terri- 
tories as far up as Manokin River. But eight square miles 
of this territory, claimed by Virginia, was terra firma or 

'Onancock Creek. 
2 Hening, Vol. I, p. 426. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 163 

arrable land, a difficult place for the Accomac Sheriff to 
reach for the collection of taxes or other purposes. Lord 
Baltimore's deputies knowing this, began to encourage this 
settlement and to grant patents in that region. No patents 
were sought by the Quaker refugees east of the Pocomoke 
River, and thus on that side of the stream no dispute arose 
in later years. Colonel Scarburgh, who, as we have seen, 
was one of Baltimore's Commissioners to issue these patents, 
finding that he was aiding in stripping Virginia of her terri- 
tory, and that his employment by Maryland was incompati- 
ble with his official duty as Surveyor General of Virginia, 
exposed the policy of Lord Baltimore to acquire that terri- 
tory by settlement; and Virginia soon took action, as we 
shall see later, to protect her rights. Colonel Scarburgh was, 
unquestionably, trying to extend the northern boundary of 
Northampton as he did the southern boundary of Accomac 
in 1662, when that county was formed, for he owned a tract 
of three thousand acres in the disputed territory which was 
subsequently held to be on the Maryland side of the bound- 
ary. His employment by the Governor of Maryland was 
due to the fact of his ownership of this land. 1 

'For land in Maryland owned by Accomac citizens, see Proceedings 
of Maryland Council, Vol. II. 



XI 

The Restoration. Accomack County Formed From 

Northampton. The Calvert-Scarburgh Line. 

The Pirates 

The administration of the Colonial government, under the 
Commonwealth of England, was judicious and beneficent; 
the people were free, harmonious, and prosperous as a whole, 
and while Cromwell's sceptre commanded the respect of the 
world, he exhibited towards the infant Colony of Virginia, 
in spite of its known royalist sentiment, a generous and 
politic lenity, thereby disarming opposition. 1 

Governors Bennett, Digges and Matthews were generally 
popular executives and won the confidence and respect of the 
Virginians. Opposition to the authority of Parliament on 
the Eastern Shore gradually died out as a result of Bennett's 
prolonged presence on the peninsula and the determined, 
yet just, manner in which he controlled the situation. Ben- 
nett had been quick to realize the danger of the smouldering 
fuse, which, allowed to burn, would soon spread to the maga- 
zines of pent-up loyalty. The task of extinguishing the 
spark, however remote and insignificant it may seem to have 
been, was not deputed to others, and in such a course the 
Governor was unquestionably wise. 

Richard Cromwell resigned the Protectorate on the 22nd 
day of April, 1659. Virginia had actually been under the 
Parliamentary Government but seven years, one month and 
ten days. Governor Matthews had died in January, 1659. 

'Campbell's History of Virginia. 

164 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 165 

England was without a monarch and Virginia without a 
Governor. The Virginia Assembly, convening on the third 
day of March, 1660, declared by their first act that as there 
was then in England no resident, absolute, and generally 
acknowledged power, therefore the supreme government of 
the Colony should rest in the Assembly. By the second act, 
Sir William Berkeley was elected Governor, March 21st, 
and for the first time represented the people, who, for a little 
more than a year, had been technically independent of Eng- 
land. In electing Berkeley Governor, to hold again the office 
which he had formerly occupied as the appointee of the King, 
the Assembly took the precaution to throw about him some 
restriction of his power, for he was required to call an As- 
sembly once in two years at least and was forbidden to dis- 
solve the Assembly without its consent. Thus it will be seen, 
that, while the people were influenced by their royalist senti- 
ments in the selection of their governor, they were not so 
blinded by their enthusiasm as to lose sight of their rights. 
Indeed, such has been the history of Virginia. All hail to 
the King when the King was with them, but let him overstep 
his bounds, and his loving and loyal subjects were quick 
enough to raise their hands and voices against him. 

In the Assembly of 1659-60, referred to, Northampton 
County was represented by Colonel Edmund Scarburgh, 
Major William Waters and Lieut.-Col. John Stringer. 1 

On the 8th of May, 1660, Charles II was proclaimed 
King of England, and on the 29th of May, transmitted a 
new commission dated July 31st, 1660, to his faithful ad- 
herent, Sir William Berkeley. From that date, the Colony 
was under a royal Governor and no longer had its own rep- 
resentative executive. 

'Hening, Vol. I, pp. 9-16. 



12 



166 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

There is no list of members of the first Assembly called by 
the royal Governor which convened October 11th, nearly four 
months after the Restoration, but in view of the short period 
which intervened between this and the preceding Assembly, 
it is highly probable that the same Burgesses appeared from 
Northampton. 

The second Assembly after the Restoration, which con- 
vened March 23, 1661, and is known as the Assembly of 
1661-1676, lasted by various prorogations and adjournments 
for fifteen years. Though there was no general election dur- 
ing this period, the membership of the House of Burgesses 
changed from time to time owing to deaths, resignations, etc. 
The records of the membership are incomplete, but we find 
Burgesses from the Eastern Shore in the session of Septem- 
ber 10, 1663, as follows: Northampton — Lieut.-Col. Win. 
Kendall, Major Win. Andrews; Accomac — Devoreux 
Browne, Hugh Yeo. 1 Tn the session of October 23, 1666, 
Northampton was represented by Lieut.-Col. Wm. Kendall 
and Captain John Savage, 2 and Accomack by Colonel Ed- 
mund Scarburgh and Hugh Yeo. 3 

Observe that representatives from two counties on the 
Eastern Shore appear. This fact alone should clear up the 
doubts existing as to the date when Accomac County was 
formed. Even Mercer in his general abridgment of the 
Laws of Virginia 4 states that Accomac Comity was formed 
fiom Northampton in 1672; and many other writers have 
fallen into the common error/' 

^ening, Vol. II, pp. 196-197. 

2 Capt. John Savage of Savage's Neck, son of Ensign 'i'lios. Savage. 

"Hening, Vol. II, pp. 249-250. 

4 Mercer's Abridgment, p. 61. 

'.Martin's Gazetteer of Va., p. 111. Howe's Hist. Collection, p. 163. 
Johnston's Memorials of Va. Clerks, pp. 1, 256. Long's Va. County 
Nairn's, Green's Genesis of the Counties, and Hening himself in a note 
on page 197, Vol. II. 



EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 167 

"Error in history," says Charles Campbell, "is like a flock 
of sheep jumping over a bridge ; if one goes, the rest all fol- 
low." 1 And so it has been with many of our historians and 
writers on the point in question. Not one of them has taken 
the trouble to weigh the facts, each preferring to evade the 
point altogether, slur over it, or continue a palpable error 
upon the pages of history by accepting without question what 
another has written. Hening, in a foot-note to the list of 
Burgesses for 1663, which is contained in a manuscript pur- 
chased by Thomas Jefferson from the executor of Richard 
Bland, 2 does his best to overcome the evidence he himself has 
given us as to the existence of two counties on the Eastern 
Shore at that time. 

It is a strange thing that no definite and specific record 
of the formation of Accomack County from Northampton is 
to be found, but the facts seem to be as follows : 

As we have seen, the Eastern Shore peninsula was com- 
monly referred to as Accomack, while its official name was 
Northampton. Even in the Acts of the Assembly, North- 
ampton had been called Accomack. 3 Such a practice ob- 
scured the facts and has led to a general misunderstanding. 
We have also seen how, when the Assembly ordered the Gov- 
ernor to proceed to the Eastern Shore in July, 1653, he was 
directed to look into the "division of the County." 4 As a 
result of the Governor's recommendations, the act of March, 
1655-6, providing for two jurisdictions on the peninsula, 
followed. There was clearly some necessity for a court in 
the upper part of the peninsula. In addition to this, there 
was unquestionably a strong party feeling, between the roy- 

H^arnpbell's History of Va., p. 243. 
2 Hening, Vol. II, pp. 196, 197. 
3 Hening, Vol. I, p. 409. 
4 Hening, Vol. I, p. 384. 



168 EASTEEN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

alists and the Parliamentary sympathizers, and the facts 
seem to indicate that the former were more numerous in the 
upper section. Another factor entering into party align- 
ments was the antagonism between the Puritans and the 
Cavalier element, the former being composed of the middle 
classes, more numerous to the south where population was 
the densest. It will be interesting here to look into the dis- 
position of the great families, who, almost without exception, 
were royalists. 

There seems to have been, at this time, a serious split in 
the royalist party. Colonel Argoll Yeardley, Obedience 
Robins, Nathaniel Littleton and others claimed that so long 
as Parliament had overthrown the King, and was in actual 
control of the Colony, the best interests of the County de- 
manded that they should uphold the government de facto. 
Accordingly, Yeardley and Littleton served in the Council 
under the Commonwealth and opposed the extreme royalist 
faction, headed by Scarburgh, who desired to secure the inde- 
pendence of the Eastern Shore from the Colony of Virginia. 
Such a division among the royalists was not restricted to the 
Eastern Shore, and for many years two factions of that party 
were to be found in the Colony, until Bacon caused a new 
alignment. With their loyalty to the King in no degree 
diminished, Yeardley and his party contended with much 
truth that by serving under the new government in high offi- 
cial positions they were better able to serve the interests of 
their party than by sulking at home. Whatever their senti- 
ments may have been, Yeardley and Robins were, first and 
last, law and order men, and were determined to overthrow 
Scarburgh and depose him from his rash leadership. In 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 169 

other words, their party was composed of the conservatives, 
while Scarburgh led the radicals. 1 

Before the momentous task, which Yeardley in particular 
set himself about, could be accomplished, both he and Na- 
thaniel Littleton died in 1655 and 1654 respectively. Their 
sons, Argoll and Southey, both inclined to the extreme royal- 
ist wing, so that Colonel Obedience Robins was left to contend 
single-handed with Scarburgh. But while he lived, the good 
Colonel was equal to the task, and as we have seen, never 
hesitated to bring his powerful adversary to justice when the 
facts warranted such action. Such uncompromising opposi- 
tion to Scarburgh naturally won Colonel Robins the support 
of the Puritan element of the middle classes, which greatly 
augmented his strength. After the death of Yeardley and 
Littleton, well might Scarburgh have dwelt upon the lines: 

"Knowledge, will — 
These twain are strong, but stronger yet the third, 
Obedience; — 'tis the great tap-root that still, 
Knit 'round the rock of duty, is not stirred. 
Though heaven-loosed tempests spend their utmost skill." 

In lower Northampton, the leading royalists were now the 
Yeardleys, seated on Mattawaman Creek, the Savages on 
King's Creek, the Robinses on Cheriton Creek, the Kendalls, 
Whittingtons and Charltons about Hungar's Creek, and the 
Upshurs at Wilsonia on Nassawattocks Creek. North of 
Nuswattocks Creek and in the section of the peninsula which 
afterwards became Accomac County, the disposition was as 
follows : 

The King himself, Colonel Edmund Scarburgh, held court 
on Occahannock Creek. Next came the Lord Bishop of 

'For full facts as to the descendants of Gov. Sir Geo. Yeardley, see 
interesting pamphlet prepared by Thomas Teackle Upshur, Amer. Hist. 
Mag., Nashville, Tenn.. Oct. 1896. 



170 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

Cradock's Creek, or the Rev. Thomas Teackle, champion 
of the Anglican faith, and who was later accused by his 
royal master of trying to poison him, and make off with 
the Queen, Lady Scarburgh. 1 The various Barons or feudal 
lords of the upper peninsula were seated as follows : The 
Littletons on Nandua Creek, the Prince or Charles Scar- 
burgh on Pungoteague Creek, the Wests and the Joyneses on 
Onancock Creek, and the Wises on Chesconessex Creek. On 
the sea-side were the Corbins at Chincoteague, and the Bow- 
mans, Croppers, Baylys and Parkers along Matompkin inlet 
and Folly Creek. From the foregoing, it will be seen that 
by far the greater number of royalists had pushed to the 
north, where lands were obtainable at the time of their arri- 
val in the County. It is easy to understand then, how, with 
the partial segregation of the royalists themselves in the 
upper portion of the County, the party was more powerful 
in that quarter than to the south, where the concentration of 
the Puritan element led to a further demarcation. We have 
seen that these so-called feudal families were so intimately 
connected by marriage, one with the other, that their influence 
was unbounded on the peninsula, and the rising opposition 
in the lower peninsula was not to be brooked by them. As a 
result then, of his conduct in 1652-3, both with respect to 
the Commonwealth and the Dutch, Scarburgh had become 
persona non grata in the latter quarter, in spite of the fact 
that his influence had secured his return to the Assembly in 
1659. He hated the Northampton Court, dominated by 
Robins, which had called him to account so often, and de- 
termined to cast off its yoke by establishing a county of his 
own, in which he and the royalists might manage things as 
they pleased, and he improved his time in the Assembly with 

*See Chapter on Early Church. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 171 

that end in view. So far, the royalists had carried all before 
them in spite of the opposition. In 1652, they had secured 
a parochial division which gave them as their religious strong- 
hold all that part of the peninsula north of Hungars Creek, 
which was officially designated Occahannock Parish, but 
which they called Accomack Parish. 1 Later, after the death 
of Yeardley, Scarburgh had secured from the Assembly an 
Act creating a new jurisdiction, coterminous with the Par- 
ish of Accomac, so that by 1658 the royalists of the upper 
peninsula had not only a distinct ecclesiastical establishment, 
but a secular one as well. 

When Berkeley came back to his own, after the interim 
during which he had been ousted by Parliament, he found 
the population of the colony greatly increased and much new 
territory occupied. There were at that time seventeen coun- 
ties in Virginia, 2 many of which embraced large areas over 
which the exercise of County authority had become un- 
wieldy, so it was not difficult for Scarburgh, the Surveyor 
General of the Colony, 3 to gain the Governor's ear and im- 
press upon him the need of a new county on the Eastern 
Shore. 

Colonel Robins, who for several years had maintained 
the opposition alone, died in 1662, and there was no one left 
to take his place, capable of protecting Northampton against 
the schemes of Scarburgh. The Assembly undoubtedly au- 
thorized the division that year, though the act is not on record. 
As clearly seen, Accomac County did not exist in 1661 4 and 
did exist in 1663. 5 

J See Chapter on Early Church. 
2 Mercer's Abridgment, p. 61. 

Succeeded Thomas Lovinge. Va. Mag. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. Ill, 
p. 46. 

4 Mercer's Abridgment. 
"Hening, II, pp. 249-250. 



172 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

The people of the northern peninsula, thoroughly in accord 
with Scarburgh's designs, selected him as their Commis- 
sioner, and Colonel William Waters, one of their Burgesses, 
was selected by the people of the lower peninsula to act for 
them. 1 

The dividing line which these two commissioners estab- 
lished between the counties of Accomack, on the north, and 
the county of Northampton, on the south, was highly unsat- 
isfactory to the people of the latter county. The relative 
portions of the peninsula allotted the two counties were 
243,314 acres to Accomack and 103,255 acres to Northamp- 
ton, contained within the present limits, or considerably 
more than twice as much territory to the upper county. 
Whether Waters was won over by Scarburgh or not is un- 
known, but if not, there can be no doubt that he was out- 
witted, as declared by the people of Northampton. In the 
Northampton Grievances of 1676, it was stated that the 
people of the county "do feel aggrieved that in the division 
of the peninsula, Accomack should have gotten so much the 
greater share and we do conceive that it was occasioned by 
Colonel Edmund Scarburgh, the Commissioner on the part 
of Accomack, having outwitted Colonel William Waters, the 
Commissioner on the part of Northampton." 2 

Scarburgh's design is apparent, and we can rest assured 
that nothing deterred him in its execution. Just as he en- 
deavored to stretch the county limits to the north to embrace 
his land in Maryland, so he now endeavored, but more suc- 
cessfully, to extend the southern limit to Occahannock Creek, 
for if an equal division of the land had been made, his home 
on the northern bank of that Creek would still have remained 

'See Northampton Grievances, subsequent chapter on Bacon's Re- 
bellion. 
2 Ibid. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 173 

under the jurisdiction of Northampton. Scarburgh sustained 
his position on the ground that the division should have been 
made in accordance with population and not with respect to 
territory, and since Accomack was more sparsely populated 
than Northampton, the division was a just one. This argu- 
ment, if based upon the existing facts as to population, cer- 
tainly paid little attention to the future. Scarburgh had car- 
ried his point and that was all he cared about. Colonel 
Waters was severely criticised and did not appear further 
as a Burgess. It would be interesting to know exactly how 
long after the death of Colonel Obedience Eobins, the Cham- 
pion of Northampton, the final approval of the division was 
secured. 

One more circumstance disproves the claim of the authori- 
ties that Accomack was formed from Northampton in 1672. 
According to the people of the latter county, as set forth in 
the Grievances of 1676, Colonel Scarburgh with Waters ran 
the boundary line. He could not have run it in 1672, for 
he died in 1670 or 1671. 1 

As we have seen, a court for the upper part of the county 
of Northampton with its commissioners, had been established. 
This court, now in Accomac, continued probably as a branch 
court of the older one in Northampton. The earliest records 
of the Accomack Court bear the date of 1663, and begin with 
the following preface: 

"At a court held in Accomack County ye 21st Aprill by 
his Majesty's justices of the Peace for ye said county in ye 
fifteenth year of the Raigne of our Sovreign Lord Charles 
ye Second by ye Grace of God of Great Britain, France, and 
Ireland — King defender of ye faith, and in ye year of our 
Lord God 1663. Present, Anto. Hodgkins, Captain George 
Parker, Mr. Eev. Brown, Mr. West, Mr. John Wise." 

'See any Scarburgh Genealogy, and Northampton and Accomac 
Records. 



174 EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

Such a record sustains the contention very thoroughly that 
Accomack County was formed before 1672. Here is a state- 
ment of the court itself to that effect. 

There is no reference to the appointment or commission of 
Robert Hutchinson, whose first signature as clerk appears 
May 23, 1G63, and his last September 26, 1670. He prob- 
ably qualified before the Northampton Court, since in the 
records of the first court, reference is made to the preceding 
court held in Northampton, March 23, 1663. 

The assumed independence of the Accomack Court was for 
a long time resented by the older court of Northampton, as 
illustrated by the following entry of 1674: "At a court held 
for ye upper part of Northampton County, formerly called 
Accomack, November 16, 1670, Upon the Honourable Sec- 
retary's word to Col. John Stringer, that Mr. Robert 
Hutchinson, late clerk of the county of Accomack, should 
desist from being any longer in the said office, and that the 
records of the said county should be delivered to the clerk 
of the court of the county of Northampton, which the said 
Hutchinson being unwilling to do, without an order from 
this court to impower the clerk of Northampton county to 
give him a discharge from the same. It is therefore ordered 
by the Court that the said Mr. Hutchinson forthwith deliver 
all the said records to Mr. Win. Meetinge, 1 clerk of the 
Court of Northampton, hee giving a discharge for the same 
accordingly." 

This would seem to indicate a strong attempt, and a some- 
what successful one, on the part of the Northampton Court 
to maintain its supremacy over the Accomack Court, in spite 
of the division of the counties. During the period of 1670- 
72, the Accomack records are signed by Daniel Neech, deputy 

'Probably Wm. Mellings. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 175 

clerk of Northampton, and John Culpeper, clerk of North- 
ampton. After 1672, they are signed by Neech and Francis 
Lord, both as deputy clerks of Accomac. 

Another strong indication that the two courts were distinct 
by 1674, is that John Culpeper states that, in appointing 
Lord his deputy for Accomack that year, he acted by virtue 
of a commission from Honorable Thomas Ludwell, Secre- 
tary of the Colony, to officiate as clerk, either by himself or 
his deputies, in any court or courts on the Eastern Shore of 
Virginia. This may also explain the absence of a reference 
to the new court in Accomac in any of the early statutes. 
since it appears that such matters were more or less in the 
hands of the Secretary. Hutchinson was clerk of Accomack, 
whether as deputy a part of the time or not, from 1662 to 
1670. Francis Lord from 1670 to 1672 ; and John Wash- 
bourne from 1674 to 1703. 

For some years after the new jurisdiction of Accomack 
was established, the justices held court in Pungoteague in 
the tavern of John Cole. When in 1677, fifteen years after 
the creation of Accomack County, it was decided to erect a 
court house at such place as the majority of the freeholders 
should prefer, Cole reminding the people of his liberality 
in not charging for the use of his tavern, asserted that having 
recently purchased the Freeman Plantation, he was sure that 
it would offer a very convenient site for the projected county 
seat. Mine host depended largely upon the attraction of the 
court for the patronage of his tavern and as an added induce- 
ment towards the acceptance of his offer, he announced his 
readiness to furnish thirty thousand bricks for the construc- 
tion of the new building and all necessary timber. These 
bricks were to be burnt on the spot by James Ewell, who 
already stood in Cole's debt to that extent. The offer of the 
tavern-keeper does not appear to have been accepted, for in 



176 EASTERN SHOKE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

1680 an order of court directed Major Charles Scarborough 
to proceed with the building of a court house on the land 
chosen by the General Assembly for the county town, which 
we shall see later was to be located at Onancock. Exactly 
when the building was erected is not known, for court was 
held at the residence of John Wise on Chesconessex Creek 
as late as 1683. 1 

There was an improvised prison at Pungoteague as early 
as 1666, for during that year John Cross was committed to 
the county "bridewell." In 1674 the justices contracted 
with John Barnes for the building of a more satisfactory jail, 
which was to be fifteen feet in length and ten in width, 
and it was to stand within one hundred feet of the court 
house. This structure, which cost only eight hundred pounds 
of tobacco, was deserted after being used for ten years. 2 

In all these arrangements, Colonel Scarburgh had a hand 
and took particular interest and pride in the managing of 
affairs. He still owned land in Northampton, however, and 
was the King's Collector of Quit Rents. Against his name 
we find the following record : 3 

"Anno 1663. 

Colnell Como Scarburgh, dr : 

To ye Quitt Rents of 53313 acres in Accomack 

at 12 p. ct. 6396 lbs. tobo. 

To ye Quitt Rents of 25728 acres in Northampton 

at 12 p. ct. 3087 lbs. tobo." 

Much of the land upon which these rents were due was 
located in the disputed territory along the Pocomoke River. 
As a result of Scarburgh's importunities and the information 

'Accomac County Records, Vol. 1676-8, p. 97. Bruce's Institutional 
History of Va., etc. 

'Accomac County Records, Vol. 1673-76, p. 155. 
8 Va. Mag. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. Ill, p. 46. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 177 

he had given the Governor as to Baltimore's policy, the 
Virginia Assembly, on September 10, 1663, passed an act 
"concerning the bounds of this Colony on the Eastern Shore." 
This ordinance commanded: 

"That publication be made as soon as possible by Colonel 
Edmund Scarburgh, His Majesties Surveyor General of Vir- 
ginia, commanding in his majesty's name, all inhabitants of 
the Eastern Shore of Virginia, from Wattkin's Point, where 
the Lord Baltimore's southermost bounds of the Eastern 
Shore is situate, this Grand Assembly by the care and special 
inquiry of five, able, selected surveyors and two burgesses, 
and, on the due examination thereof, conclude the same 
place of Wattkin's Point to be the north side of Wicomico 
River on the Eastern Shore, and neere unto and on the south 
side of the Streight Limbe, opposite to Pastuxent River. 
Which place according to Captain John Smith and discov- 
erers with him in the year 1608 was so named." 

A conference with Lord Baltimore's commissioners was 
proposed in case he should be dissatisfied, and Colonel Scar- 
burgh, Mr. John Catlett and Mr. Richard Laurence 1 were 
appointed commissioners on the part of Virginia. The Sur- 
veyor General was further directed "to improve his best 
abilities in all other his majesty's concerns of land relating 
to Virginia, and especially that to the northward of forty 
degrees of latitude, being the utmost bounds of the said Lord 
Baltimore's grant, and to give an account of his proceedings 
therein to the right honorable governor and council of Vir- 
gmia. 

Colonel Scarburgh's report of his proceedings on this 
occasion is preserved. 3 While the foregoing Act gave him 

1 A noted character in Bacon's Rebellion. 

'Hening, II, p. 183. 

s "The account of Proceedings in his Majt's affairs at Annamessecks 
and manokin, on the Eastern Shore of Virginia." Accomack County 
Records. Also see Report of Va. and Md. Boundary Commission, 1872. 



178 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

great authority, even thai was transcended in his execution 
of its chief provision. The act provided that a conference 
should be held with Lord Baltimore's representatives to de- 
termine ihe location of Watkin's Point, but there is no evi- 
dence of Scarburgh having sought such a conference. His 
own report leads us to believe that he did not seek to carry 
out his orders, for he says, "I suppose according to ye Act 
of Assembly, there ought to have been a meeting on Ye East- 
ern Shore, w'ch ye Quakers say is contemned, whatever my 
own person may be, I presume ye officer I pr'sent is not so 
unworthy, nor ye persons of those joyned with mee, nor 
when they come to try all shall finde ye affair negotiated 
with less repute than becomes such a concerne." Colonel 
Scarburgh hated Quakers intensely, and was so unscrupu- 
lously jealous of Virginia's rights and his own, that he made 
oath that Watkin's Point was above the mouth of the Anna- 
messecks and not of the Pocomoke River; also that the Poco- 
nioke had never been known as the Wighco. This oath plainly 
varied with Smith's map, which placed the point on the 
mouth of the Wighco, which was undoubtedly the Poco- 
moke. 1 

But let us see how he executed the commands of the As- 
sembly. He set out with "some of the commission" and 
about forty horsemen, an escort which he deemed necessary 
"for pomp of safety" and also in order "to repel the con- 
tempt" which, as he was informed, "Some Quakers and a 
fool in office had threatened to obtrude." 

The party reached Annamessecks on Sunday night, the 
eleventh of October. On the next day, at the house of an 
officer of Lord Baltimore, the Surveyor General began to 



'"Tlie Maryland and Virginia Boundary Controversy." 1088-1894, 
Louis N. Whealton. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 179 

publish the Assembly's commands by repeatedly reading the 
act to the officer, who labored under the disadvantage of being 
imable to read. He declared that he would not be false to 
the trust put in him by the Lord-Lieutenant of Maryland. 
To this, Colonel Scarburgh replied, "that there could be no 
trust where there was no intrust [interest]." The officer, 
declining to subscribe his obedience lest he might be hanged 
by the Governor of Maryland, was arrested and held to secur- 
ity (given by some of Scarburgh's party) to appear before 
the Governor and Council of Virginia, and the "broad arrow" 
was set on his door. This matter being so satisfactorily ad- 
justed, the colonel and his company proceeded to the house 
of a Quaker where the act was published "with a becoming 
reference;" but the Quakers, scoffing and deriding it, and 
refusing their obedience, were arrested, to answer "their 
contempt and rebellion," and it being found impracticable 
to obtain any security, "the broad arrow was set on the door." 
At Manokin the housekeepers and freemen, except two of 
Lord Baltimore's officers, subscribed. "One Hollinsworth, 
merchant, of a northern vessel," at this juncture "came and 
presented his request for liberty of trade," which Scarburgh 
suspecting to be "some plan of the Quakers" to defeat their 
design, "presumed, in their infant plantation, to give free- 
dom of trade without impositions." Scarburgh drew up a 
descriptive list of those who stood out against submitting to 
the jurisdiction of Virginia ; one was "the ignorant yet inso- 
lent officer, a cooper by profession, who lived long in the 
lower parts of Accomac; once elected a Burgess by the com- 
mon crowd, and thrown out of the Assembly for a factious 
and tumultous person." 1 George Johnson was "the Proteus 
of Heresy," notorious for "shifting schismatical pranks." 

'Randall Revell, after whom Revell's Island was named. 



180 EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

He stands arrested, and "bids defiance." "Thomas Price, a 
creeping Quaker, by trade a leather-dresser," and "saith 
nothing else but that he would not obey government, for 
which he also stands arrested." "Ambrose Dixon, a caulker 
by profession," "often in question for his Quaking profes- 
sion," "a prater of nonsense," stands arrested, and "the broad 
arrow at his door, but bids defiance." "Henry Boston, an 
unmannerly fellow, that stands condemned on the records 
for fighting and contemning the laws of the country ; a rebel 
to government, and disobedient to authority, for which he 
received a late reward with a rattan, and hath not subscribed ; 
hides himself, so scapes arrest." "These are all, except two 
or three loose fellows that follow the Quakers for scraps, 
whom a good whip is fittest to reform." 

On the 10th day of November, 1663, the County Court of 
Accomac authorized Captain Wm. Thorn and others to sum- 
mon the good subjects of Manokin and other parts of the 
country, "so far as Pocomoke River, to come together and 
arm themselves for defense against any that might invade 
them, in consequence of the rumors that Quakers and factious 
fools have spread, to the disturbance of the peace and terror 
of the less knowing." 

Colonel Scarburgh's conduct seems to have aroused the ire 
of the Marylanders, for they described his progress through 
the fields of Annamessex and the Manokin as that of a dash- 
ing, haughty, domineering Cavalier, arresting, threatening, 
denouncing, and proscribing by the "broad arrow of confisca- 
tion" marked upon their doors all who would not submit. 
Remonstrance against Scarburgh's conduct in beating and 
imprisoning the people of Annamessecks and Monanoakin, 
was made in June, 1664, by Governor Calvert to Governor 
Berkeley ; who replied that Scarburgh had no authority to 
act alone or to proceed by force. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 181 

Soon after this, Calvert appointed Commissioners to meet 
the representatives of Virginia ; and upon the failure of the 
latter to appear at the appointed time, he sent his Chancel- 
lor in person to the Governor and Council of Virginia to 
treat concerning Watkin's Point, to demand justice against 
Scarburgh for attempting to mark a tree thirty miles north 
of Watkin's Point; and also for his conduct in Annames- 
secks and Manoakin. 1 The complaint against Scarburgh, how- 
ever, had but little effect, for he was again appointed by the- 
Virginia authorities to join Calvert, the Maryland Commis- 
sioner, and run a boundary line between the two colonies. 
By their commission they were instructed "to meet upon the 
place called Watkin's Point, and thence to run the divisional 
line to the ocean." These instructions were partly carried 
out and in June, 1688, the commissioners rendered a report 
of their proceedings. 2 

The agreement signed by both parties states, "that after 
full and perfect view taken of the point of land made by the 
north side of Pocomoke Bay and the south side of Annames- 
sex Bay, we have and do conclude the same (boundary) to 
be Watkin's Point, from which said Point so called, we have 
run an East Line agreeable with the extreamest part of the 
Westermost Angle of the said Watkin's Point over Pocomoke 
River, to the land near Robert Holston's, and there have 
marked Certain Trees, which are so continued by an East 
Line Running over Swansecute Creek into the marsh of the 
Seaside with apparent marks and Boundaries, which, by our 
mutual Agreement according to the qualifications aforesaid, 
are to be received as the Bounds of Virginia and Maryland 
on the Eastern Shore of Chesapeake Bay." 

^Archives of Maryland, Proceedings of the Md. Counc, 1636-67. The 
Md. and Va. Boundary Controversy, 1660-1894, Whealton. 
"Proceedings of Council of Md., 1667-68, p. 44. 



13 



182 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

Scarburgh and Calvert also drew up another agreement 
which settled in advance of final action by the authorities of 
the two colonies, the pending controversies about land hold- 
ings, in consequence of the line which they had run. These 
two instruments, signed by the Commissioners, were submit- 
ted to and subsequently ratified by the legislatures of the two 
colonies. This bare record, part of which has been cited, is 
all that remains of their transactions, for the commissioners 
apparently kept no journal, made no maps, nor certificates 
of survey, and never mentioned the names of any other sur- 
veyors, as assisting in the work. 

The line run by the Commissioners, known as the Calvert- 
Scarburgh Line, was the first attempt of Virginia and Mary- 
land, acting together, to define their common bounds. The 
line was poorly and inaccurately run, for only a part of it 
was actually surveyed, and the commissioners seem to have 
agreed as to the location of the point under controversy, and 
to have guessed where a line extending eastward from it 
would cut the Pocomoke River, some four miles away. Only 
between this stream and the ocean did they actually survey 
and mark the boundary. 1 

The Marylanders had not dropped their charges against 
Scarburgh, and now pressed them vigorously. He was ordered 
to appear before the General Court and after a long-drawn- 
out prosecution, an injunction was entered against Scarburgh, 
September 16, 1670, prohibiting him from altering the bounds 
between Maryland and Virginia. 2 It appears that council 
was assigned him, interpreters sworn, a long examination 
and many depositions taken, and a judgment entered against 
him, and that numerous petitions were filed by the inhabitants 

J Md. and Va. Boundary Controversy, Whealton. 

*Notes from Council and Gen. Court Rec., 1641-78, Va. Mag. Hist, 
and Bio. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 183 

of the Annamessex country, complaining of his high-handed 
and unlawful confiscations of their property. 1 

The second war between England and the Dutch within a 
period of fifteen years was forced upon Holland by the 
arrogance of Charles II. The restored monarch was fast 
losing the affection of his Virginia subjects, for rumors were 
rife concerning his Catholic inclinations. Indeed, the Dutch 
war of 1665 was directly attributed by them to his desire to 
strike a blow at Protestantism, of which Holland was an un- 
comprising champion. Upon the outbreak of this new war, 
the Dutch, as usual, active upon the sea, destroyed a fleet of 
English merchant ships in the mouth of James River. In 
view of the great danger to which Virginia shipping was ex- 
posed, the Governor and Council of Virginia took immediate 
steps to protect their merchant marine and coasts. Orders 
were promptly issued for the better organization of the mili- 
tia and all officers were ordered to stand prepared to march 
upon two days' notice. For the protection of the ships in 
Chesapeake Bay, four havens were designated, where vessels 
pursued might seek refuge. These points were "at James 
City in James River on the south side over against Tyndall's 
Point ; in York River, in Rappahannock River in a place as 
shall be judged fit by the council and justices inhabiting that 
river ; and on the Eastern Shore, at Pungoteague, such places 
there as their justices shall think fit, and that they ride with 
hasers on the shore ready to hall on shore upon any approach- 
ing danger, and it is further ordered that there be ten men 
out of every County's Company choosen and sent with tools 
and necessary provisions to be paid for by the public, to the 
said respective places of riding, there to build a platform for 
a battery and lines for small shott to defend the ships, and 

^bid. 



184 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

to begin the said work on the tenth of September next and to 
finish it according to such directions as they shall receive 
from the Governor, and with all possible speed, and because 
we have not ordnance and ammunition of our own, it is or- 
dered that the Governor be desired to represent that our want 
to his Majesty and most humbly beseech him either to supply 
us out of his own store with ordnance, or to give us power to 
take two out of every ship to furnish our said batteries, 
either to be returned to them at their departure or else be 
paid for out of the two shillings p. hogshead." 1 

The mart which had been established on Occahannock 
Creek in 1655 was not considered by the Council to be as 
desirable as the one at Pungoteague. As yet no settlement 
had actually sprung up there, while Pungoteague was not only 
the seat of the new county but the site of the "Ace of Clubs" 
church. 

In this old order of the General Court, mention is made of 
guns being taken from the ships. It is interesting to note 
that from the earliest period vessels employed in the Virginia 
trade were under the necessity of carrying guns. In 1633, 
the number of guns carried by one ship ranged from twenty 
to twenty-four; and later on, in 1691, the danger at the hands 
of pirates became so great that the Governor established by 
proclamation places of refuge on the Eastern Shore. In 
1684, the English Government took steps to protect the Vir- 
ginia coast as well as to break up illicit trading. Occasions 
arose when government assistance was much needed, as when 
in 1699 the "Maryland Merchant," while at anchor off the 
coast, was seized and plundered by an unknown ship carrying 
thirty guns and manned by a large crew. The people of 
Accomac and Northampton were always promptly warned of 

'Genl. Court Dec. 1664-70, Va. Mag. Hist, and Bio. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 185 

the presence of these dangerous outlaws, and patroles were 
posted along the shores of the peninsula, so that the County 
Commanders or Lieutenants might be informed of their ap- 
proach in time to call out the militia to defend the people 
against the attacks of the pirates. 1 

As an unfortunate consequence of the remoteness of the 
Eastern Shore, the sea-side islands were occupied for many 
years by pirates, at their own pleasure. Indented as the 
Atlantic side of the peninsula is by numerous coves and in- 
lets, formed by the chain of islands which stretches from the 
utmost point of the Cape to Delaware, it afforded them a safe 
refuge when pursued by enemies, and was a most desirable 
place for refitting and repairing after a long cruise. Here, 
too, they would bring their prizes, and, according to tradition, 
bury their treasures among the sand dunes of the islands. 
The coast was a veritable wilderness, inhabited only by a few 
lazy, overfed savages, and once within the inland waterway 
between the islands and the mainland of the peninsula, the 
ruffians of the sea were protected from the interference of 
the law as well as from the dangers of the tempest. Thus 
secluded they could plot their nefarious schemes at leisure. 2 

The ships of Captain Kid seem to have frequently visited 
the neighboring coast islands, although the buccaneers do not 
appear to have made incursions upon the peninsula. In 1699, 
Thomas Wellburn, the Sheriff of Accomack, notified Gover- 
nor Nicholson that Matthew Scarburgh had recently met 
persons who had been visiting one of Captain Kid's ships, 
then lying off the coast. The vessels were reported to be 

truce's Economic Hist, of Va., Vol. II, p. 346, for collected authori- 
ties. 

2 Carolina Pirates. P.assett. Buccaneers and Pirates of our coast. 
Stockton. Wheeler's History of North Carolina. Williamson's History 
of North Carolina. Martin's History of North Carolina. Various 
Histories of Virginia. 



18G EASTEKX SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

heavily manned, one carrying forty-two and another eighteen 
cannon. Wellburn's informants stated that an enormous 
treasure of gold and jewels, amounting to not less than five 
hundred and twenty thousand pounds sterling, was stored in 
the holds of these ships. 1 

In 1688, the danger at the hands of the Pirates was so 
great that the Council ordered one Gilbert Moore to patrol 
the seaside of the peninsula, for which service, for a period 
of three months, he was awarded four pounds ten shillings. 
Later Colonel Custis was ordered to establish look-outs, and 
in 1699 the commanders of the militia of Accomac and North- 
ampton were ordered to have the coast patrolled until late 
in the season. A patrol was accordingly established, one man 
for each of the counties, and a third to keep a look-out on 
Smith's Island. In October of this year, Colonel Custis re- 
ported that a pirate ship had anchored near Smith's Island, 
probably in Bullock's or the Great Eastern Channel, between 
Smith's and Mock Horn Islands, and that a band of twelve 
well-armed men had landed and shot down many hogs and 
beeves, which they carried off to their vessel. Colonel Custis 
urged the Governor to detail a frigate to duty as a guard ship 
in these waters, and thus capture these "villians" who were 
compelled to anchor off Smith's Island when they desired to 
go upon the mainland. 2 

The famous Blackboard, driven to bay and killed by Lieu- 
tenant Maynard in 1718, is said to have hailed from Acco- 
mack. 3 Blackboard's real name was Edward Teach, and there 
are possibly some of his descendants living on the peninsula 

'Letter of Wellburn. dated "Chincateague, June 29, 1699," B. T. Va. 
See Bruce's Institutional Hist, of Va., etc. Vol. II. p. 211. 

2 Custis's Report, B. T. Va. lii, p. 42. Bruce, Ibid. 

'See address of late T. T. Upshur, Va. Mag. of Hist, and Bio., Vol. 
IX, p. 95. Biographical Sketch of Edward Teach, by Dr. Stephen B. 
Weeks, Sante Fe, New Mexico. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 187 

at the present time. In 1887-8, one Mrs. Mary Teach, nee 
Justice, died near Marionville, Northampton County. She 
and her husband were originally from Accomack. 1 

The population of the peninsula in 1666 may be closely 
estimated from the following list of tithables of Northampton 
for August of that year, about three years after the forma- 
tion of Accomack County. According to races, the tithables 
stood 372 whites and 52 negroes. Estimating the tithables 
at one-third of the total population, would make Northamp- 
ton's population in August, 1666, 1,116 whites and 156 
negroes, or a total of 1,272. 2 If we estimate the population 
of Accomack as equal to that of Northampton, based upon 
Scarburgh's statements as to relative equality of population 
in the two counties, the total population of the peninsula at 
this time would be 2,544 persons, of whom 312 were negroes. 
But if we allow Accomack a population bearing the same 
relation to its area as that in Northampton, Accomack would 
have had 2,544 inhabitants, thus making the total popula- 
tion of the peninsula 3,816. The mean of the two estimates 
is 3,180, and this figure is not far from correct. Now if we 
add several hundred Indians, and the shifting element of 
'longshoremen and Islanders, it will be seen that the Eastern 
Shore was more densely populated than any other portion of 
Virginia in 1666. 

The mortality during the next few years was very great, 
due to an epidemic of smallpox. The germs of the fatal 
malady were said to have been imported by a stricken sea- 
man, the cause of whose illness was at first unknown. Large 
numbers of the whites died during the plague, and the dis- 
ease became general among the Indians, who had been driven 

'Ibid., Upshur. 

2 See list of Tithables in Appendix. 



188 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

together upon reservations in remote sections of the penin- 
sula. These crowded native settlements were almost de- 
populated, the inhabitants dying like sheep with the fright- 
ful disease. The poor natives, huddled together in their 
squalid villages, were powerless to cope with the situation. 
The customary treatment, which the medicine men prescribed 
for the more simple maladies, but added to the fatality of 
the epidemic. Panic stricken, the Indians sought relief 
among the whites, thus spreading the disease with the most 
disastrous effects. The condition of the whites became so 
alarming that in 1667 the Colonel and Commander issued 
a proclamation warning all families affected to allow no 
member "to go forth their doors until their full cleansing, 
that is to say, thirtie days after their receiving the sd small- 
pox, least the sd disease shoulde spreade by infection like 
the plague of leprosy . . . Such as shall no-things notice 
of this premonition and charge, but beastlike shall p'sume 
to act and do contrarily, may expect to be severely punished 
according to the Statute of King James in such case provided 
for their contempt herein ; God save the King." 1 

At last the epidemic abated, having ravaged the land for 
several years, but not until the population had been seriously 
reduced and numbers of the best citizens had perished. 

Mention has been made of the county militia, both in con- 
nection with Scarburgh's trip to Annamessex and the de- 
fense of Pungoteague. The military organization on the 
Eastern Shore was the same as that in other parts of the 
Colony. All freemen capable of bearing amis were required 
by law to muster once a month at the court house or such 
other place as the Commander designated for the assembly. 
In 1670, Governor Berkeley reported to the Lord Commis- 

' Northampton County Records. Vol. 1655-58, last part, folio p. 19. 
Orders, Jan. 7, 1667. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 189 

sioners of Foreign Plantations that the entire militia force 
of the Colony consisted of upwards of 8,000 horsemen, and 
that there were five forts, two on the James River, and one 
at each of the three rivers, Rappahannock, York and Poto- 
mac. He must have overlooked the fort at Pungoteague, or 
else it was never completed. The latter is more probable, as 
Berkeley would not have omitted any item which would have 
presented a more favorable condition. Then again, the Dutch 
War was of such short duration, that the real necessity for 
the fort ceased to exist before it could have been completed. 

In 1670, there were 40,000 inhabitants in the Colony, of 
which number 2,000 were slaves and 6,000 white servants. 
Such a force as named by Berkeley, if properly equipped, 
was an excellent showing. But we must remember that the 
proportion of fighting men in a new colony, or in frontier 
settlements, is always greater than in established communi- 
ties of long standing and settled conditions. 

If the proportion of slaves and servants which existed as 
to the whole colony extended to the Eastern Shore, where 
there was a total population of about 4,000, there must have 
been about 800 men liable for service in the militia of North- 
ampton and Accomack. That any such number ever mus- 
tered at one time is out of the question. The very pursuits 
of such a sea-faring people would cause the absence of large 
numbers of the able-bodied men at any given time. It will 
be recalled that when Scarburgh assembled a force of but 
300 in 1659, it was necessary to recruit his ranks in part on 
the Western Shore. 

In 1686, the House of Burgesses endeavored to reorganize 
the militia, to create a more efficient force for the defense of 
the colony. The military quota of Northampton and Acco- 
mack was fixed at one troop of horse for each county, forty 
men in addition to the officers composing a troop. Prior to 



190 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

this, there were companies of foot troops as well as mounted 
men serving in the militia. Francis Yeardley was the first 
regularly appointed Captain of the militia on the Eastern 
Shore, receiving his Commission in 1642. He was then 
ordered to organize the freemen of the county and drill them 
at least one a month, reporting all persons liable to sendee 
who failed to attend the exercises. Small military districts 
were later created, each under command of a Captain, the 
senior officers of the peninsula bearing the rank of Colonel, 
Lieutenant-Colonel, and Major. The assemblies or musters 
in Northampton were regularly held at Argoll Yeardley's 
plantation on Mattawaman Creek. Absentees from the county 
musters were fined. In Accomack, in 1664, thirteen persons 
were mulcted twenty pounds of tobacco apiece for neglecting 
to attend the April meeting, and twenty-two for absence from 
the muster held in August. The amount of the fine was later 
increased to one hundred pounds of tobacco. 

In 1670-1, Colonel Edmund Scarburgh died, succumbing, 
it is thought, to the prevalent disease. It is not certain 
where he was buried, but probably on his estate on Occahan- 
nock Creek. May the many good deeds of this indomitable, 
fearless, uncompromising man, overbalance the bad. Added 
to the words "the good which men do lives after them" 
should be the words, "but the bad becomes more notorious." 
Such is certainly true in the case of Edmund Scarburgh. 
Had he lived but a few years longer, he would undoubtedly 
have joined Bacon, as his son Charles did, for, in view of his 
radical character, his love of war and his hatred of Indians, 
it is not likely that he would have thrown his support to the 
cause of Berkeley as being that of the King. Had Scar- 
burgh lived to join forces with Bacon, Berkeley's tenure of 
the Eastern Shore would have been a more precarious one. 



XII 

The Arlington-Culpeper Grant. Bacon's Rebellion 

In the dark days following the execution of Charles I, his 
wandering son on the continent, who was, theoretically, King 
of England, had granted to some "distressed cavaliers" of 
the time, the section of Virginia called the "Northern Neck," 
between the Rappahannock and the Potomac, as a place of 
refuge from the ire of the Commonwealth' s-men. This grant 
was afterwards recalled; but in 1673 the King granted to the 
Earl of Arlington and Lord Culpeper, two of his favorites, 
"all that entire tract, territory, region, and dominion of land 
and water commonly called Virginia, together with the ter- 
ritory of Accomack," to be held by the said noblemen for the 
space of thirty-one years, at a yearly rent of forty shillings 
to be paid on "the feast day of St. Michael the Arch Angell." 
They were to have all the quit-rents and lands escheated to 
the crown ; and were empowered to make a conveyance in fee 
simple, and to manage all things after their pleasure. No 
holder of land by valid title was to be disturbed, but with this 
single exception they were to be the masters in Virginia. 

This portentous grant raised a great outcry. The two 
English lords had become the proprietors of Virginia with 
her forty thousand people. All the persons honestly in posses- 
sion of escheated lands were liable to be turned out of their 
houses at a moment's warning. The revenues of the colony 
were to be received by the new owners of it. They were to ap- 
point public officers, to lay off new counties, and present min- 
isters to the parishes. In broad sweep and minute detail, the 

191 



192 EASTERN" SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

King's patent was an enormity. By a scratch of the royal pen, 
Virginia, which had been so faithful to him, was conveyed 
away as a man conveys away his private estate, to two of the 
most unscrupulous courtiers of the English Court. 

The Burgesses promptly sent commissioners to protest 
against this outrage. There was a long wrangle with the 
King's officials, but Charles II was too careless to feel ill- 
humored. He had no desire to wrong his faithful Virginians : 
"Those quit rents had never come into the royal exchequer," 
he said ; he had meant them for "the benefit of that our col- 
ony." He was "graciously inclined to favor his said sub- 
jects of Virginia," and would grant them a new charter for 
"the settlement and confirmation of all things" after their 
wishes. But suddenly the perverse Virginians took matters 
into their own hands. 1 They lost all patience waiting for the 
King to redress their injuries, and a revolt nearly occurred 
in 1674, but no person of note taking the lead the trouble 
subsided for the time being. The threatened outbreak was 
not without effect, for justices of the peace were prohibited 
from levying taxes for their own emolument. 2 The Assem- 
bly now determined to make an humble address "to his sacred 
majesty," praying for a revocation of the forementioned 
grants to Arlington and Culpeper, and for a confirmation of 
the rights and privileges of the colony. Commissioners were 
appointed to repair to England and endeavor to secure a new 
charter for Virginia, but all negotiations failed. Matters in 
the Colony in 1675 were going from bad to worse. The price 
of tobacco had been depressed by the monopoly of the English 
navigation act and the cost of imported goods had increased. 
The Indian incursions on the western frontier, which occurred 
at this time, filled the measure of panic and exasperation. 

'Cooke's History of Virginia, pp. 232-234. 
2 Hening, II, p. 519. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 193 

Groaning under many exactions and their own peculiar 
grievances, though free from the danger of Indian massacre, 
the people of the Eastern Shore were in a desperate frame of 
mind. 

The Assembly, in an endeavor to put the colony in a state 
of defense against the Indians, passed long and carefully con- 
sidered laws in March, 1676, but something more than laws 
was needed to reassure the exposed planters on the Western 
Shore. Forts were ordered to be erected at various places on 
the frontier, and one even on the Eastern Shore, between 
John Bedding's house and the Pocomoke River, or at such 
other place as the militia officers of the two counties should 
deem wise. 1 

For a full account of the events of this period, of the revo- 
cation of the Arlington-Culpeper Grant, and the causes which 
led Bacon to take up arms against the Indians, and to resist 
the oppressions of the Assembly and Berkeley's orders, the 
reader must consult a more general work. No attempt will 
be made in these pages to justify nor to condemn Bacon, 
called the rebel. 

By general consent, however, the most important event in 
the history of Virginia prior to the American Revolution was 
the rebellion led by the younger Nathaniel Bacon and growing 
out of the disturbed conditions in the colony at the time of 
which we have been treating. It was the first armed resist- 
ance offered by Americans to the constituted authorities of 
the mother country ; and interest in the movement is still fur- 
ther enhanced by the fact that it occurred just one hundred 
years before the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. 2 

J Hening, Vol. II, p. 328. 

2 F. P. Brent, Va. Magazine of History and Biography. Frequent use 
of Mr. Brent's article is made in this chapter. 



104 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

During the early summer of 1676, while momentous 
events were transpiring on the Western Shore, the people of 
Northampton met (in June, 1676), and drafted a list of 
grievances, which clearly described the particular hardships 
to which they had been subjected, and the unjust burdens 
which they desired to cast off. This petition, known as the 
'•Northampton Grievances," was promptly forwarded to the 
Governor and Council, but no action was taken thereon, 
except with respect to Clause IX, by the Assembly, which 
convened June 5, 1676. With regard to appeals, this, the 
last General Assembly before the outbreak of Bacon's Re- 
bellion, enacted the following law: 

"act xviii 

'Be it enacted by the governour, council and burgesses of 
this Grand Assembly, and by the authorities thereof, that all 
lawes prohibiting appeals from the counties of Northampton 
and Accomack, soe farr forth as it relates to the said coun- 
ties be repealed, and that appeals from the county courts of 
Northampton and Accomack aforesaid lye open.' 1 

NORTHAMPTON GRIEVANCES 

The Agreevances of ye Inhabitants in Genii to say House- 
keepers and ffreeholders of Northampton County committed 
unto theire Burgesses to prsent unto yor Richt Honble Govrs 
his councell and Burgesses humbly — 

PETITIONING FOR REDRESS 

1. Whereas our country som yeares since was, contrary 
to our expectation, divided into two counties to our great 
detriment and Loss notwithstanding ye great advantage of 
Coll. Scarborough, yu made and p'cured to ye county of 
Accomack agnt Leutnt Coll. Waters yu his ffellow Burgess; 

l Hening, Vol. II, p. 362. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 195 

ye premises dewly considered desire (as we humbly con- 
ceive) but Reasonable, yt our County may be answerably 
Inlarges as theirs. 

2. That we may have liberty graunted us to choose a new 
vestry, and yt every three years a new vestry may be chosen. 

3. That ye act concerning paying for killing of Wolves, 
Bears, Wilde Cats & Crows, or ye Like, may be Repealed 
since no man but will, for his own good & security, Indeavour 
to ye utmost to destroy all possably he can. 

If.. That any housekeepers may have a coppy at any time 
of ye clerk of ye Lists of Tithables, and by ye s'd clerk at- 
tested, paying Reasonably for ye same. 

5. That no p'son may be sett Tax ffree but by a full board, 
and not by any magistrates p'ticular favor to ye great op- 
pression of other poore p'sons. 

6. That it may graunted us to make a free choyse of six 
housekeepers, without Interposing of any over Ruling Magis- 
trate and to continue yt Numbr who may be admitted and 
authorized to sitt, vote, assess and examine ye Lists.of Tith- 
ables yearely at ye Laying of ye county Leavy, giving them 
Lawfull Notice of ye same to prevent future oppression and 
abuses, as we humbly suspect and conclude to have Received 
heretofore, wch Reasonable Request, if deny'd us, must and 
will submit. Then crave (by ye Reason) we have a court of 
Brothers; Priviledge may be granted us and confirmed (if 
they continue) to have our choyce of ye s'd foure Brothers, 
two of them only to sitt at our s'd yearly assessing ye County 
Leavy. 

7. That our County Records may be free open for every 
man to search and Require coppies as their occasions, from 
time to time, shall and may Require at ye apoynted place 
anf office, paying ye Clerk his just fees. 

8. That courts may be kept more duly according to Act 
of Assembly, without often Ressuringment at pleasure, with- 
out apparent just cause of ye great charge & detriment of ye 
People, as allso sitting at ye apoynted hours; ye contrary 
forcing peop., Especially in Winter, to Return home at to 



196 EASTEEX SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

Committ theirs business unto others Loss and Dissatisfac- 
tion, or else expose themselves to trouble and be Bourthen- 
some to theire Neighbours housen, w'ch possable may be pre- 
vented by early sitting. 

9. That we may have Liberty to appeale, in any Dubius 
case, though depending upon a far smaller value than Three 
Thousand pounds of Tobacco wch would not heretofore be 
p'mitted. 

10. That no Drink may be sold within a mile of ye Court- 
house at any of ye court sitting days, Considering ye Detec- 
tion of time and ye Rudeness of people where Drink is sold 
at courts, neglecting theire business, spending and wasting 
theire Estates, abusing themselves and Authority, Quarrel- 
ing and fighting with all Imagenary Illconveniences, and 
evill concequences thereby accruing. 

11. That no ordinary, or petty Tipling house may be al- 
lowed in our county ; a means to keep young freemen and 
others from Running into Maryland. 

12. That there may be a considerable fine and stricter In- 
junction Inserted or added to the act concerning ye court to 
examine theirs orders in open court and not any pticular 
Majestrate to presume ye same Private at his house wch ye 
clerk contrary to the true tenure of Law (in force) when 
often yt Majestrate so doing is not prst at half of ye orders 
entered, whereby possable many 111 conveniences may arise 
and corruption practised as heretofore on our Eastern 
Shore. 

IS. The mooving of ye s'd act, as upon Just complaint, that 
Sheriffs and clerks may be ordered to doe something ex 
officio as well as magistrates and other officers, as for intend- 
ing ye orphants court when often done or few accompts be 
brought in ; and usually done at the county court time. Ditto 
as to order and coppy of orders ; so constables, survayers of 
highways summoning ye people to choose Burgesses, Re- 
turning them, summonsing of Juries before need, when often 
times in '■'> or 1 courts not one cause is put to a Jury, or at 
Least to moderate theire fees, wch by these means and ye 
Like they Raise often unreasonable sums and allowed them. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 197 

IJf. That ye Indians of ye Eastern Shore in Virginia 
may be obliged to kill a certaine Numbr of wolves yearly, 
having a dayly opportunity by Ranging ye woods ; for such 
Satisfaction as may be thought fit without ye p'fit of p'ticular 
men. 

15. That no Sheriff may officiate two yeares together. 

16. That no p'son may be admitted to beare any office 
until he hath bin an Inhabitant five years in ye Place where 
he shall officiate, and yt all those not of that continuance may 
be Dismissed until further Tryall of theire Fidelity and 
Trust. 

11. That whereas our shore is Incompassed wth Shoales 
Insomuch yt no ships but of small burden can come to Trade 
and those yt come but few and Inconsiderable. It may be 
tacken in consideration and accordingly ordered yt no psons 
in our country may be suffered to Ingross any commodaties 
(as formerly) to ye great prjudice of ye communtry; to say 
yt no man shall within six weeks or wt time may be thought 
convent after ye ships or vessell moveing in ye creek Buy 
more than his crop doth amount unto ay any store. 

Wee ye Inhabitants of Northampt County, In Virginia, 
having given in our aggrevances to our Burgasses do make 
choyce of these tenn men as Trusttes to draw our Agree- 
vanees in full and Ample manr. To be by them Delivered to 
our Lawfull Burgasses. 

Signed. Jno. Michael, Senyr. 

Thos. Harmanson 
John Waterson 
Richard Lamby 
Thomas Huntt 
Will Spencer 
Jn. Custis, Jr. 
Argoll Yeardley 

The marke of 
Arthur A. Apsher 

The marke of 
Wm. W. Slapting/' 



14 



198 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

While this appeal forcefully presented the grievances of 
the people of Northampton, it does not appear that any 
armed resistance was threatened in that quarter, nor were 
the people of the peninsula in sympathy with Bacon's Re- 
bellion so far as it was an armed attack upon the Governor. 
Indian incursions, the very cause which precipitated Bacon 
in his course, was a danger foreign to the Eastern Shore; 
and while the Navigation Act would have borne hard upon 
them, had it been enforced, the remoteness of the peninsula 
rendered the evasion of the law a simple matter. For that 
reason, neither of these matters is mentioned among the 
grievances. Had the Eastern Shore been exposed to merci- 
less inroads of the Savages of Maryland, and had Berkeley 
prohibited the people from protecting themselves, there is 
no doubt that they would have taken up arms in their own 
defense and turned upon the Governor, had he attempted to 
interfere. But this was not the case, and being entirely cut 
off from the Western Shore, the people of the peninsula 
could not appreciate the necessity of Bacon's course and had 
hardly an interest in common with the rebels. There was 
little more to induce them to take up arms than if they had 
been residents of Maryland. Bacon himself did not take 
up arms with the original object of ridding the people of 
the hardships which bore upon them as a result of the As- 
sembly's refusal to grant them relief from their govern- 
mental burdens, but merely because weapons were necessary 
to repel and punish Indians. The idea of pressing other 
demands upon the Governor by means of force, never occur- 
red to Bacon in the first stages of the rebellion. 

In view of the highly developed spirit of independence 
among the people of the Eastern Shore, it is more reason- 
able to suppose that they would have quickly resisted Berke- 
ley, had circumstances prompted such a course, than to 



EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 199 

attribute such intense loyalty to them as would have secured 
their unwavering support to a tyrannical governor. It will 
be remembered that Accomac as a county took no part in the 
petition of Northampton, although the burdens complained 
of in that appeal were largely common to the people of the 
peninsula. 

At this time, Argoll Yeardley, John Custis II, and Wil- 
liam Kendall were the leading men of Northampton. Yeard- 
ley was the son of a former Councillor under the Common- 
wealth. John Custis, on the contrary, was a favorite of 
Lord Arlington, an ardent royalist, and a warm friend of 
Berkeley's, if not in accord with all his policies. William 
Kendall had represented Northampton in the first assembly 
after the restoration, which was naturally strongly royalistic 
in temper. The fact that Custis and Yeardley, belonging to 
different parties, were selected as trustees to secure the 
redress of their grievances by the people of Northampton, 
and that Kendall, hitherto an avowed royalist, joined Bacon, 
clearly shows that the people of Northampton were not 
arrayed along the party lines previously existing. The in- 
dication is that they were fircnly united in an effort to im- 
prove matters, but that a few, like Kendall, who had spent 
much time at James City, and fallen under the influence of 
the Bacon sentiment, took more violent means to secure re- 
dress. 

In Accomac, a similar absence of factional alignment was 
to be found. The leading figures there, since the death of 
Colonel Edmund Scarburgh, were Major John West, Ma- 
jor Edmund Bowman, Colonel John Wise, Colonel Southey 
Littleton, and Colonel Charles Scarburgh. West was the 
son of Lieut.-Col. John West, of Northumberland County, 
who had married Matilda Scarburgh, daughter of Colonel 
Edmund Scarburgh. Colonel West was an ardent supporter 



200 EASTERN SHORE OF VIK'dl.MA HISTORY 

of Berkeley's in suppressing the rebellion. 1 1 is son allied 
himself with Colonel Bowman, AVise, and Littleton in their 
policy of loyalty to Berkeley. Littleton was the son of a 
former member of the Council tinder the Commonwealth, 
and may reasonably be supposed to ha\ T e entertained his 
father's views. Charles Scarburgh, son of the noted royalist 
partisan, joined Bacon, as did his cousin William Scarburgh, 
while Captain Edmund Scarburgh, younger brother of 
Charles, remained loyal to Berkeley. So we see that the 
King played but a small part in the course which the people 
of Accomack pursued. 

Upon hearing of the dissatisfaction on the Eastern Shore, 
the Governor threw a sop to the malcontents, by promising 
that lie would redress their wrongs so soon as circumstances 
permitted, and thereby rendered further remonstrance on 
their part unnecessary. 

When, on the 29th of July, the Governor found it neces- 
sary to desert the Western Shore, he did not repair to the 
peninsula on account of the great loyalty of the country to 
his cause, but because it was the only remaining part of the 
colony in which he would be safe from sudden capture by 
Bacon. He knew when he went there that the petitioners 
were waiting impatiently for response to their appeal, and 
that something more than promises would have to be yielded 
to win their support. His only hope, however, lay in assemb- 
ling a sufficient force about his standard to take the aggres- 
sive against Bacon, and with that object in view and in order 
to fully commit Custis and other prominent men to his 
cause and secure the aid of the people through the influence 
of their leaders, he dispensed various royal commissions 
among them, appointing Custis, Major General of the King's 
forces, and established his headquarters at "Arlington" on 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 201 

Old Plantation Creek. 1 That Berkeley should establish him- 
self at this point was most natural. It afforded the best 
harbor convenient to the Western Shore, and was near the 
village of "Old Plantation," and also the village of Acco- 
mack. These places though boasting but a handful of peo- 
ple, were the only settlements of any size south of "The 
Horns" or "Peachburg," as it had now come to be known. 
Besides, "Arlington" was the home of Major General Custis, 
who was engaged in collecting the forces for Berkeley, and 
the governor was naturally to be found at the scene of such 
activity. 

Moreover, since words cost nothing, Berkeley promised 
to exempt the two counties from all taxation for a period of 
twenty-one years, should they remain faithful to him. While 
the Governor was not always politic, he was shrewd, and by 
such promises he won the passive, if not in all cases the 
active, support of the masses. 

Immediately upon the arrival of Berkeley in Northamp- 
ton, steps were taken to muster the militia of the two coun- 
ties and augment the regular forces. Commissaries were 
commissioned and sent out to collect supplies and recruits 
for the King's army, as Berkeley called his force. Berkeley 
no doubt visited all the principal points in Accomack as 
well as in the lower peninsula, for he soon enlisted through 
personal appeal many of the leading citizens in his cause. 
Tradition says that he established his headquarters near 
Pungoteague, and again at a house on Onancock Creek. Un- 
questionably he was at these places but only temporarily. 

While Berkeley on the Eastern Shore was endeavoring to 
rally to his banner a force capable of overcoming Bacon, and 

^ening, II, p. 552. Also Winder Papers. Va. State Library. Va. 
Mag. of History and Biography, Vol. X, pp. 69-70. 
Cradle of The Republic, Tyler, p. 70. 



202 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

dispatching messengers to England, begging for troops and 
other aid, Bacon was not inactive on the Western Shore. The 
flight of the Governor had decided many persons in their 
course, hitherto neutral, and large numbers went over to 
Bacon. 

Campbell tells us that some of the inhabitants of the 
Eastern Shore committed depredations on the estates of the 
planters on Bacon's side of the bay. 1 It is possible that some 
of the free-booters whom Berkeley assembled about him 
took advantage of the Governor's authority to loot and pil- 
lage. Some of the "free and easy" gentlemen from the sea- 
side islands, who in no sense could be called Accomackians, 
would have found the occasion a congenial one. 

After attending to matters at Middle Plantation, Bacon 
dispatched Giles Bland, "a gentleman of an active and stir- 
ring disposition, and no great admirer of Sir William's 
goodness," to the Eastern Shore to capture the old Governor 
and confine him. Bland was ordered to go and "block up" 
his foe, Sir William, or induce the people to surrender him 
— "thinking the country, like the Friar in the Bush, must 
needs be so mad as to dance to their pipe." So, General 
Bacon, hoping that his Lieutenant, Bland, might "go forth 
with an empty hand but return with a full fist," placed mat- 
ters in his charge and went after the Indians. 2 

Lieutenant General Bland, a man of courage and haughty 
bearing, set forth on his enterprise. He had 250 men, and 
one ship with four guns, under command of an old sailor, 
Captain Carver, who was "resolved to adventure his old 
bones" for the rebel cause. This one ship was insufficient, 
however, and Bland seized another, lying in York River, 
which belonged to a Captain Laramore, probably a trader 

'Charles Campbell's History of Virginia, p. 305. 
2 See Cooke's History of Virginia. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 203 

and a friend of Berkeley's. This seizure irritated Laramore 
and was the source of many woes. He had been arrested 
and confined in his cabin, but dissembling, professed sym- 
pathy, and was restored to the command of his ship ; and 
then Bland sailed for Accomac. On the way he captured 
two other vessels, making four in all, and with this fleet, 
anchored off "Old Plantation." 

At the appearance of the four ships mounted with can- 
non, Sir William was almost in despair. He found himself 
threatened with capture by a rebel fleet, and his situation 
was not unlike that of his master Charles I, in his darkest 
days. An incident changed everything. 

Laramore's mind was still rankling with resentment at 
the seizure of his ship ; and he privately sent word to Berke- 
ley that if assistance were given him he would betray Bland. 
At the time, the vessels were at anchor, and Captain Carver 
of the four-gun ship, Bland's second in command, had gone 
on shore to see Berkeley. Laramore's offer resembled a 
trap, but a friend of the Governor's, Colonel Philip Lu dwell, 
offered to vouch for him, and to lead the party to assist in 
Bland's capture. Sir William thereupon agreed to every- 
thing, and Ludwell prepared an armed boat in Old Planta- 
tion Creek, but out of sight. At the time appointed, he 
rowed toward Laramore's ship ; supposed to be coming to 
parley; and Bland did not fire on him. The sequel quickly 
came. The boat ran under the ship's stern, and one of Lud- 
well's men leaped on board, and putting a pistol to Bland's 
breast said, "You are my prisoner." The rest followed and 
disarmed the crew, who were said to be drunk, but were prob- 
ably Laramore's friends; and Carver soon returning, he and 
Bland were "amazed and yielded." No further resistance 
was made, and Colonel Ludwell returned in triumph with 
his prisoners to Berkeley. Thus ended in gloomy disaster 



304 EASTERX SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

the attempt to make the Accomackians dance to the rebel 
piping. Bland, with all his courage and activity, had been 
caught in a trap, and Berkeley put him in irons and other- 
wise ill-treated him. 1 Poor old Carver was honored by his 
excellency, as we are told, with the gift of a halter, and was 
hung on the shore near "Old Plantation" a few days after- 
wards. General Bland was spared for the time being and 
held in prison on the Eastern Shore until March. He was 
a man of too much influence at court to be dispatched in the 
summary way in which Carver had been executed. After 
Bland's capture, Laramore's men joined the forces of 
Berkeley. 

At this juncture it will be interesting to examine into 
the army which Berkeley was able to gather about him on the 
Eastern Shore. 

We know that Major John West of Accomac raised a 
force of men in this county, forty-four of whom served under 
Berkeley for thirty-four days. 2 How many of the better 
element of Northampton enlisted for service under Berkeley, 
we have no way of determining, but it is known that some of 
them did enlist, and it is only reasonable to accredit them 
with a force equal to that from Accomac. Supposing this 
to be the case, Berkeley must have had one hundred fairly 
good men. 

Historians unite in telling us that Captain Gardener, a 
follower of Berkeley, arrived about this time at Accomac in 
his ship the Adam-and-Eve, with ten or twelve sloops which 
he had collected along the coast. Bland's captured ships 
made in all about seventeen vessels. When Bland set out 
for Accomac, he had a force of two hundred and fifty men. 

J Cooke, p. 275. 

"Petition of Maj. John West, Accomac County Records, Sept. 14, 1677. 
See Appendix. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 205 

Add to this number the crew of Laramore's ship, and those 
of the two other vessels of Bland's fleet, and it will be seen 
that Bland must have had about three hundred men with 
him when captured. Most of these men joined Berkeley's 
army, and added to the men from Accomac under Major 
West, and an equal number from Northampton made up a 
force of about five hundred. 

Some authorities put the number of men which Berkeley 
had when he crossed the bay as high as one thousand, 1 while 
others claim but eight hundred." In view of the usual ex- 
aggeration of such estimates, the smaller number is probably 
more nearly correct. The crews of Gardener's vessel and 
the sloops would normally number about two hundred men. 
The balance of one hundred was probably made up of the 
'longshoremen to whom the historians invariably refer. If 
the force were composed as we have supposed, it was indeed 
a motley crew, but should not be accredited to the Eastern 
Shore. To this force naturally devoid of all discipline, the 
Governor offered, so it is said, the estates of all who had 
taken ''Bacon's Oath," and further proclaimed that the serv- 
ants of all gentlemen fighting under Bacon should have their 
master's property in case they enrolled themselves under the 
King's flag. 

Such extravagant promises were not calculated to instill 
order and discipline into the ranks of the Governor's nonde- 
script army. 

Berkeley sailed for Jamestown and reached it safely Sep- 
tember 7, 1676, the news of his approach "outstripping his 
canvass wings." The place was held by Colonel Hansford, 
one of the youngest and bravest of Bacon's lieutenants, with 
eight or nine hundred men. Berkeley, anchoring, summoned 

1 T. M. Manuscript. 
2 Winder Papers. 



206 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

Hansford to surrender, promising amnesty to all but Law- 
rence and Drummond, then in the town. Hansford refused, 
but upon the advice of these two leaders, determined to 
evacuate the place, which he did during the night. About 
noon the next day, Governor Berkeley landed on the island, 
and ''knelt down and rendered thanks to God for his safe 
arrival." 1 

Lawrence, Drummond, and Hansford had galloped off to 
the north to report the loss of the town to Bacon, who was at 
the head of the York River. They told Bacon that the whole 
"Kingdom of Accomac" had declared for the Governor and 
that a great army had been raised there and transported 
across the bay. 

Bacon's proceedings were those of a soldier. He had only 
a body-guard with him, but he mounted in hot haste and set 
out for Jamestown. Couriers scattered in all directions to 
summon his followers to join him. As he advanced, his force 
steadily increased, and inarching with "a marvellous celer- 
ity, outstripping the swift wings of fame," he came in sight 
of Jamestown, at the head now of a force of several hundred 
men. 

Sir William was ready to receive him. A strong earth- 
work and palisade had been erected across the neck of the 
island, and Bacon rode forward to reconnoitre. He then 
ordered his trumpets to sound and a volley to be fired into 
the town. But no response came back. Berkeley, it is said, 
expected that his enemy would retire for want of provisions ; 
but in this he was disappointed. Bacon was a rough cam- 
paigner, and supplied himself from the Governor's own 
larder, as the Governor had supplied himself from thought- 
ful Mr. Lawrence's cupboard. He made his headquarters 

Cooke's History of Virginia. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 207 

at "Greenspring," the mansion of Sir William; and cattle, 
grain, horses, and stores of every description were appro- 
priated without scruples. 1 

Bacon, after a careful survey of the ground, proceeded to 
throw up a breastwork in front of Berkeley's palisade. It 
is said that in order to accomplish this in the face of the 
enemy, he seized the wives of a number of his prominent 
adversaries and notified Berkeley and the husbands that if 
an attempt were made to stop the entrenching, the ladies 
would be mounted upon the works to stop the bullets. Not 
heeding the threat, an attacking party sallied out of James 
City at daylight the next morning and fell upon the work- 
men ; the sally was repulsed ; and the ladies were mounted 
upon the half completed works and kept there until the 
breastwork was completed. As soon as the ladies retired, 
Governor Berkeley ordered a general attack, but his undis- 
ciplined army, it must be admitted, did not push forward 
with much vigor and was promptly driven back. Historians 
do not give much credit to the followers of Berkeley for their 
conduct in this fight. His army was necessarily an unor- 
ganized band. While there were many fine men from the 
Eastern Shore with him, and a handful of followers like 
Ludwell from the Western Shore, the large majority of his 
men were sailors and irregulars and cared little for Berke- 
ley or his cause. No doubt the latter had joined the Gover- 
nor for the sake of promised plunder, and "finding cold 
steel to encounter instead of larders to rifle," they suddenly 
ceased fighting and fled to Jamestown. Thus deserted, the 
better portion of Berkeley's army was forced to retreat, 
leaving a dozen of their number killed or wounded before 
Bacon's trenches. 

Cooke's History of Virginia. 



208 EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

This was the end for the moment of Sir William Berkeley 
and the royal cause. The stormy old leader was "extremely 
disgusted, and expressed in some passionate terms" his 
wrath and mortification. But there was no help for it. His 
following was plainly too lukewarm to run any risk in his 
cause ; and when Bacon brought up three guns and opened 
a cannonade on the town and ships, Sir William Berkeley 
lost all heart, embarked during the night, and he and his 
army sailed away from Jamestown and returned to Accomac. 

llncon immediately entered the deserted capital, and 
ordered it to be burned so as to prevent Berkeley from occu- 
pying it again. 

Such was the end of Berkeley's attempt to overcome 
Bacon. It had accomplished nothing. The advance had 
ended in retreat. Sir William had fled to his ships, and his 
ships had fled down James River and back to the Eastern 
Shore. There was no more spirit left in the army which 
has been so generally accredited to Accomac. 

The Governor's fleet of transports probably landed the 
disheartened expedition at Pungoteague or Occahannock, 
for an entry in the Accomack records shows that a hospital 
was established at the house of Henry Reade in the lower 
part of the county, where the sick and wounded were received 
and kindly treated. If the expedition had returned to "Old 
Plantation" in Northampton it is not likely that the wounded 
would have been taken such a great distance as to Accomac. 

Though Berkeley, and the host of invaders which had 
descended upon James City, had been driven off, Bacon felt 
that something should be done to prevent a repetition of this 
invasion. He, therefore, no doubt upon the advice of Scar- 
burgh and Kendall, dispatched agents to distribute a proc- 
lamation among the people of the peninsula in which he 
appealed to them to desist from further acts of enmity to- 



EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 209 

wards him and begging them to forsake Berkeley. The step 
was a wise and opportune one so far as it concerned the mass 
of the people, though it had no effect upon the better element 
of the Governor's supporters. The overwhelming disasters 
which had befallen the first expedition were certainly cal- 
culated to discourage further enlistment in Berkeley's army, 
and a loyalty already lukewarm was not intensified by such 
results. 

Even Bacon was misled as to the true nature of the invad- 
ing army, attributing its personnel entirely to Accomac, as 
will be seen from the following text of his appeal: 

bacon's appeal to the people of accomac k 

"Of part of our victory, and the misery of your own and 
Sr. Wm. Berkeley's Condition, your selves are Judges, how 
unjust your cause was, how base and sordid the invitation 
that tempted, how unheard of, his and your manner of pro- 
ceedings against yor neighbors and friends, to invade this 
poor Colony and bee the first beginners of Bloodshed amongst 
his Maties subjects, for hopes of Plunder: does T believe by 
this time gall your consciences and reasons to reflect upon, 
and consider how you have been deluded and gulled by that 
abominable Jugler: whose cheates and base Actions you were 
all acquainted with, and whose oppressions you have a long 
time groaned under, which that you may more clearly see 
and understand, read without prjudice and considr. 

"Know that I have done, has bin in defence of his Majties 
interest (by a power derived from his Maties) as authen- 
tique and immediate, as in this part of the world can be — 
being a Commission signed by Sr. Wm. Berkeley att the 
request of yor Assembly, and ratified by an Act of Assembly, 
whereby the said Sir Wm. Berkeley amply and fully ex- 
presseth his confidence of my Loyalty to his Matie to bee 
one of the grounds and reasons of this intrusting mee with 
soe great a charge, which doth fully and absolutely acquitt 
me of that violence whereby he pretends the Commission to 



210 EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

be extorted, for that all the world may imagine that noe man 
of honour in his place, would bee compelled to Act against 
reason, soe that noe reasonable man can imagine Compulsion 
otherwise than a Ridiculous Evasion. 

"For in Taxing mee contrary to the tenor of my Commis- 
sion hee taxeth himself of treason to our Soveraigne, wch no 
pretence of compulsion can excuse, for it is not to be sup- 
posed that his Matie would entrust either a Coward, or a 
ffolle, soe that it doth necessarily follow that if my Commis- 
sion were Just and granted for reasonable grounds (as by 
tenor thereof under his hand doth appeare) then the Com- 
plaint by him agst us, was unjust and abominable or if I 
were what hee prtends hee doth att once confess himself both a 
Coward and a Traitor which hee very well knows, and it is 
on that score, that by his folly and passion together, hath in- 
volved himself, and this poore Colony, in such a Laborinth 
of mine, for that hee very well knows, that hee never can 
Answer what hee hath done before his Matie, should his 
doings, and what he was alwaies desirous of, come to the 
eares of our Soveraigne Lord (as by our former declaration 
may appeare) for he knows and will consider, that by his 
own handwriting all his accusations agst his Maties Loyall 
Subjects, which were with such haste dispatched for Eng- 
land, are frustrates, when that it will appeare that hee hath 
granted me Commission of an Afterdate to his Accusation, 
hee therefore, perceiving that all his damnable Plotts and 
devices agst the people although by all his Artifices, Lyes 
and Juggles must of necessity turne on himself e, not daring 
to trust himselfe to the Justice of our Soveraigne, whose 
interest with our loves wee have defended, resolved rather 
to trust his Cause to the rash Conduct of his madd party, to 
the wisedom of a discerning Prince, who must needs count 
him unfitt to Governe, who neither had the principle to doe 
what was just, nor the courage to oppose what was unjust. 

"Again consider also, that hee has Acted beyond his com- 
mission or power, granted from his Matie wh impowers him 
to Act with foure of his Council Jointly, when in this late 
disturbance, hee hath had two (Cole & Ludwell). 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 211 

"Againe considr that hee Levyed forces without an As- 
sembly or the consent of the Country, against the people who 
have hitherto been of the defensive party. 

"Lastly considr how closely, constantly and diligently 
wee have acquitted ourselves of our trust, and taken all pos- 
sible advantage of our Indian Enemy. 

''Considr also what considerable victoryes wee have ob- 
tained, in two marches agst them and how we have been 
pursued and prosecuted in both. 

"Considr also what ill successe hee and his party have 
had, and what little reason you have to boast of your pur- 
chase or any your attempts, or actions in our Rivers. 
"Gent. 

"If therefore, sence, reason or humanity can invite you 
(bee unbeguiled betimes) and attend what is seriously 
spoken to you and propounded by the people of Virginia, that 
if you doe within fifteen days after the arrival of this paper 
on yr shore, send some of yr discreetest persons in the name 
of your countrey, to make us satisfaction for your Losses 
(which by your Pyracyes) wee have sustained, and to de- 
liver up to us the Ringleaders, to bee sent into England, 
there to havr their Tryall, that is to say, Custis, Stringer, 
ffoxcraft, Littleton; as also shall howrly convey to us what 
persons of our party are there detained as Prisoners, then 
out of the tender desires we have to preserve peace and 
Amnity among ourselves, that his Maties Colony might not 
bee ruined by yor rashness ; wee will rather treat with you as 
Brothers and friends and endeavour that our sad difference 
may be composed. 

"And that this section of yors may be reckoned as the 
seducement of Abominable Jugler Sr whose oppres- 
sions you have formerly known then any wayes revive the 
memory of it to the Breach and discontinuance of that peace 
which wee hitherto have, and ought to maintaine (wch if you 
deny) I appeale over to yourselves, if you can justly blame 
us, iff we prosecute you with all extremity of warr, to the 
utmost of our powers, which you must expect from them, 



212 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

whom nothing but your own folly and Injustice has or can 
make your Enemies. 

""Subscribed thus, 

Xatii. Bacon." 

While this remarkable exposition of his claims to right 
and the support of the Accomackians did not win Bacon the 
active enlistment of the Eastern Shoremen in his cause, yet 
a threat was clearly expressed in the body of this appeal. 
Indeed, Bacon was already planning to take the aggressive 
against Berkeley and to punish the people of the peninsula 
for their invasion of the Western Shore. 

The poor old Governor was much alarmed, for the 
apathetic loyalty of the masses to his cause could not possi- 
bly delude him into a belief that they would offer such oppo- 
sition to Bacon as would lead to the devastation and destruc- 
tion of their farms and homes. While the influence of the 
gentry was very great, yet even they could not assure Berke- 
ley of his safety among them. If Bacon's transports were to 
heave in sight, but one course was open to the Governor, and 
that was to desert the soil of Virginia for a safer place of 
refuge. The bitter conflict between Bacon and Berkeley, so 
far as personal rancour was concerned, was not reflected in 
the breasts of their supporters, and such men as Kendall 
and Charles Scarburgh in the former's army, would, from 
self-interest, see that no desolation of their homes ensued at 
the hands of the invaders. A meeting of the leaders of the 
two parties would have been more in the nature of a saluta- 
tion between friends and brothers than a parley between 
enemies. 

At any rate, the fear that the rebels might land upon 
the peninsula and take up a triumphant march accompanied 
by fire and sword, caused much alarm among the common 
people, so that Berkeley's orders to patrol the coasts and 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 213 

watch for Bacon's sails, were readily complied with. Pa- 
trols were posted along the shores and near the mouth of 
every navigable creek, and as the eyes of the self-interested 
watchers scanned the horizon and noted with apprehension 
every craft that appeared upon the bosom of the blue bay, 
the uneasy Governor no doubt kept within easy reach of a 
fleet craft, standing prepared to spread her sails at the first 
signal of departure. 

This deplorable situation must have been equally alarm- 
ing to the loyal Custis, Major General of a vanished army, 
and who had loaned large sums of money to Berkeley on the 
King's account. 'No doubt the Governor's word was Custis's 
sole security and that was not negotiable collateral in the 
clearing house of the rebels. The loyal Custis, however, as 
well as the other creditors of the King among the gentlemen 
of the Eastern Shore, seem to have acted with magnanimity 
during the crisis of Berkeley's affairs, and to have continued 
to aid and succor him when all seemed lost. 

Hope flared up afresh, when the loyal Colonel Brent, with 
one thousand men, made a demonstration in Gloucester in 
favor of the royal cause, but almost simultaneously with the 
news of the undertaking came the sad tidings of its farcical 
end. Fortune again favored the downcast Berkeley, for even 
while Bacon was completing his preparations to invade the 
peninsula, his strength waned under a consuming fever and 
dysentery, contracted in the trenches at Jamestown, and 
after a few weeks' illness, he expired in October, 1676. 

Contemporaneous writers, laboring under the excitement 
of the time, hinted at foul play on the part of Berkeley and 
his sympathizers, but as yet evidence sufficient to justify the 
charge of poisoning has not been adduced. 

Appreciating the fact that "Bacon's Rebellion" was in- 
spired and maintained by the great personal influence of 



15 



214 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

the deceased leader, and that with him died the spirit of 
fearless resistance to the King's authority, Berkeley, so soon 
as he heard of Bacon's death, determined to strike a fatal 
blow to the mutiny. Robert Beverley, who had remained 
with the Governor during his exile, was accordingly dis- 
patched with a party of reliable men to York River, to cap- 
ture as many of the demoralized leaders of the rebel force 
as possible. They succeeded in capturing Colonel Hansford 
and about twenty of his men near where Yorktown now 
stands. They were taken captive to Accomack. Hansford 
was summarily tried by the Governor at the head of a make- 
shift court, sentenced to be hung and duly executed on the 
bay-shore, about a mile from the place of his confinement, 
November 13, 1676. 1 Captain Wilford, Captain Farloe and 
several others of less note were also put to death on the East- 
ern Shore. 

Sir William Berkeley now repaired to York River with 
four merchant ships, two or three sloops and 150 men. On 
January 29, 1677, a fleet with an English Regiment arrived 
and Berkeley was commissioned to try rebels. 

Since James City, the former seat of Government, was 
no more, a court-martial was instituted on board Captain 
John Martin's ship in Yorke River, January 11, 1677, and 
adjourned from time to time to the house of the Governor 
at "Green Spring" and other important points thereabout. 
This court was composed of the Right Honourable Sir Wil- 
liam Berkeley, Knt. Governor and Captain General of Vir- 
ginia, and the following gentlemen: 



'Ingram's Proceedings, 33: Force's Collection of Historical Tracts, 
Vol. I. For a sketch of Thomas Hansford, the first native martyr to 
American Liberty, as he has been frequently styled, see Virginia Histori- 
cal Collections, Vol. IX, p. 193. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 215 

Coll. Nathl. Bacon (elder) Coll. Win. Claiborne 

Coll. Tho. Ballard Coll. Southey Littleton 

Coll. Phill. Ludwell Lt. Coll. John West 

Coll. Augustine Warner Maj. Law. Smith 

Maj. Bobert Beverley Capt, Anth. Armistead 

Coll. Math. Kemp Capt. Danl. Jenifer 

A revel of blood ensued, but in justice to the other mem- 
bers of the court, it should be said that they opposed as best 
they could the violent measures of the Governor. Nothing 
could deter him, however. His thirst for the blood of his 
enemies was apparently insatiable. At last, after he had 
executed ten of the rebels, the King's Commissioners, Col- 
onel Herbert Jeffries, Sir John Berry, and Colonel Francis 
Morryson, arrested the proceedings of the bloody drum- 
head court. 

A civil court, of which the commissioners were members, 
was instituted at "Green Spring," and held its first session 
March 1st. The commissioners had brought with them from 
England the King's Proclamation authorizing the court to 
pardon all rebels who would take the oath of obedience to 
his Majesty and give security for their good behavior. 

On the 3rd of March, the Governor was not present at 
the session of the court, whereupon Charles Scarburgh and 
William Kendall presented themselves for judgment. It is 
quite likely that they had been apprised of the Governor's 
intended absence. After claiming the benefit of the King's 
proclamation and taking the oath of obedience to his Maj- 
esty, the following judgment was passed upon them by the 
court i 1 

"Itt being most evident that Captain Charles Scarburgh 
hath uttered divers scandalous and mutinous words tending 
to the dishonour of the right honourable the Governour ; but 

^ening, II, p. 549. 



216 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

the said Captain Scarburgh submitting himself, and being 
ready to comply with what fine the court shall adjudge 
against him, the court have thought fit and do order that the 
said Captain Scarburgh be fined or amerced fowerty pounds 
sterling, to be paid upon demand to the right honourable the 
governour, which the said Scarburgh willingly submits to." 
"Itt being evident that Coll. Wm. Kendall hath uttered 
divers scandalous and mutinous words tending to the dis- 
honour of the right honourable the governour; but the said 
Coll. Kendall submitting himselfe, and offering fifty pounds 
sterling as a fine for his soe great crime; and the right hon- 
ourable governour desiring the court to pass the same into 
order, they have therefore thought fit and doe order that he 
pay the said somme upon demand to the right honourable 
the governour, which he willingly submits to, and hath 
accordingly performed the same." 

From this, the measure of Kendall's offense seems to have 
been greater than Scarburgh's. 

At the session of the court held March 8th, Giles Bland, 
the leader of the expedition to the Eastern Shore, was con- 
victed of treason and sentenced to be hung, which sentence 
was executed on the 15th. At the sessions of the 9th, 10th, 
15th and 16th, a number of prominent rebels were sentenced 
to death, raising the total number executed to twenty-three, 
twelve of whom had been sentenced by Berkeley's Court- 
martial. On the last date above, William Scarburgh was 
sentenced to death. 1 

The Assembly and court which convened February 20th 
had by this time repealed Bacon's laws and Berkeley's tri- 
umph was absolute. 

Our Virginia historians, misled by the contemporaneous 
accounts of the Rebellion as contained in the "T. M." manu- 
script, the Winder Papers, Bacon's appeal and other papers, 

Mining, II, p. 553. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 217 

have without exception misconceived and misrepresented 
the part played by the Eastern Shore in connection with 
Bacon's Rebellion. All of them agree that only the rougher 
element of 'longshoremen and adventurers, whom desire for 
plunder drew to his banner, supported Berkeley against 
Bacon. 1 They have referred to the part played by the peo- 
ple of the Eastern Shore, during the Rebellion, in most dis- 
paraging terms. They have unjustly charged the people of 
the peninsula with the acts of every free-booter and ruffian 
who flocked there at Berkeley's call, for the purpose of 
adventure and in the hope of plunder. They have been led 
into the error by contemporaneous writers, who, ignorant as 
to the true situation, indiscriminately referred to Berkeley's 
motley host as Accomackians. The people of the Western 
Shore, at that time, knew very little about the peninsula or 
its inhabitants ; and after all it was natural that they should 
believe the rabble which descended upon them from across 
the bay, to be composed of natives of the peninsula. 

An examination of the records of the peninsula will con- 
trovert the general view of historians and convince any un- 
biased mind that while large numbers of Eastern Shoremen 
did not accompany Berkeley in his expedition to James City, 
they very generally hazarded their fortunes for the success 
of his cause. 

When Berkeley first sent out a call for supplies, many of 
the wealthiest and most influential men on the peninsula 
responded. 

With the exception of the orders for the raising of troops 
and the impressment of provisions, no mention is made of 
the Rebellion in the records that cover the period of hostili- 
ties. As Sir Wm. Berkeley was present on the peninsula 

J For similar error, see Bancroft's Hist, of U. S., Vol. I, p. 465. 



218 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

the greater part of the time, he evidently took affairs into 
his own hands, and adopted such measures as he deemed 
best adapted to insure his own safety and the ultimate tri- 
umph of his fortunes. Hence we find that, during the Re- 
bellion, the court records of Accomac and Northampton are 
scanty. Of the proceedings of Sir Wm. Berkeley and his 
Council while on the Eastern Shore, no record has been pre- 
served; and it is not probable that any was made. As soon, 
however, as the Rebellion collapsed by reason of Bacon's 
untimely and mysterious death and the civil courts resumed 
their duties, the old county records teem with entries that 
fix the attitude of the Eastern Shoremen in the great strug- 
gle and attest the services rendered by them to the cause of 
Berkeley. 1 While Berkeley is known to have executed a 
number of the rebels on the Eastern Shore, the sole mention 
of an execution in the Accomac Records is contained in the 
petition of lone Occahone. 2 

The document which above all others fixes beyond a doubt 
the attitude of the Eastern Shore people in Bacon's Rebel- 
lion is the memorial addressed to Sir William Berkeley by 
the justices of the peace and other leading citizens of Acco- 
mac shortly after the cessation of hostilities, asking for cer- 
tain favors he had promised them in consideration of their 
loyalty. The text of the petition follows: 

"Wee his Majesties Justices here underwritten, and others, 
the Inhabitants of Accomack County, in obedience to his 
most sacred Majesties command directing us to send over to 
them sealed all grievances and pressures, especially such as 



*For interesting abstracts from Accomac Records see Appendix, 
2 See Appendix. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 219 

have been the grounds of the late troubles and disorders 
among us, being deeply sensible of the Late Rebellion hatched 
and acted on the Western Shore by Nath. Bacon, dec'd, and 
complices, to our great prejudices, expenses and Losses of 
many men and crops by watching and warding on all parts- 
of the Shoare to hinder the Landing and invasion of the said 
Rebells on our coast, where we have received into our pro- 
tection the bodies of the Right Honourable Sr. Wm. Berke- 
ley and severall other good and Loyall subjects of his Majty, 
fled to our parts from the fury and rage of the said Bacon 
& Complices, doe. 

"First, hereby acknowledge that we nor any of us knew 
any reason for any such Rebellion, & some or all of us did 
protest against his actions as rebellious. 

"Secondly, we humbly desire his Majty to continue Sr. 
Wm. Berkeley Governor in Virginia as long as God shall 
spare him life. 

"Thirdly, Whereas the Right Honourable Sr. Wm. Berke- 
ley upon his first coming to us and our readiness to assist 
him to the hazard of our own lives and fortunes against the 
said Rebell Bacon & Accomplices, did promise as well as our 
county of Accomack as the rest of the Eastern Shore in Vir- 
ginia should bee free from all county tax for these twenty- 
one years ensuing. 

"Wee humbly therefor pray ye Honourables to be a means 
the same may be confirmed first in Virginia and afterwards 
by his Ma j ties Roy all grant. 

"Fourthly, Whereas wee are deeply sensible of the vast 
charge this unhappy warr and Rebellion hath put the coun- 
try to, and it may be expected to be defrayed out of the 
country : Wee desire wee may be excluded from all and every- 
part of the same, wee being in no way the cause of it. 

"Lastly, Whereas we have been informed that this Royall 
Majty hath or was about to give the country their Quit Rents 
for many years to come, wh: wee doubt this unhappy warr 
hath now broke off, wee humbly desire it may still remaine 
good to us, and being in no way the cause of knowing of the 



220 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

same, to wh : wee subscribe or hands in open court, and pray 
for his Majties and ye Honourable Governr health long to 
continue. 

(Signed) Edm'd Bowman 

Robt. Hutchinson 
William Whittington 
Jno. Wise 
Tho. Riding 
Rich. Hill 
Edm'd Scakbukgh 1 
Jno. Wallop 
Obedience Johnson 
& many others." 

The names subscribed to the foregoing memorial afford a 
sufficient guarantee for the truth of all the statements it 
contains. They are the names of the foremost men then 
living on the Eastern Shore. 

Then comes the report of the King's own Commissioner, 
Sir John Berry, appointed to assist in the settlement of mat- 
ters in Virginia. In summing up the sufferers by Bacon's 
Rebellion he writes: 

"iN ACCOMACK 

"The Gentlemen of this Province were very Loyal to his 
Majestie and Faithfull and constant to the Governor, and 
must therefore of consequence, be greate suffers since the 
place was the onely shelter for the Governour and his Party 
during the Troubles in other Parts of his Majesties Colony 
of Virginia ; from which this is separated seven leagues dis- 
tance. 

"The Persons of Particular Emmency were these, vizt: 
Col. Stringer, Col. Littleton, Mr. Foxcroft, Major Jenifer 
and in the first Place. 

'Son of Col. Edmund, who died in 1670-71, and brother of Col. Charles 
Scarburgh. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 221 

"Major Genii. Jo. Custis whose house was Sir William 
Berkeleys continued Quarters, a person who at all tymes 
and Places boldly asserted, & supported to his power the 
Governours honour & cause in his Maties behalfe against the 
Rebells. This worthy Gentlemen upon consulting severall 
of the most eminent and able persons in Virginia for victual- 
ling his Majestyes ships there, most frankly engaged to lend 
the King a Thousand pounds sterling on his owne account, 
to promote and advance thereof, if it possible have been per- 
formed answerable to his Maties on their Exigency, which 
none would undertake to do. 

"(Signed) John Berry. 

"Ed. in Oct, 15, 1677." 

This contemporaneous writing should settle beyond ques- 
tion the fact that the governor made "Arlington" and "Old 
Plantation" his permanent headquarters during the rebel- 
lion. 

We have seen how Sir William Berkeley left nothing 
undone to punish those who had taken sides with Bacon. 
The following extract from the records of Accomac in refer- 
ence to Jenifer show that in punishing his enemies the Gov- 
ernor did not forget to reward his friends. 

"By his Majesties Governr and Captain Generall of Vir- 
ginia. 

"Whereas, Capt. Daniel Jenifer of Accomac county of 
Virginia hath fully approved himselfe a good and loyall 
subject of his Most Sacred Majties Govr, being always ready 
to serve and obey me his Majties Govr in suppressing the 
present Rebellion, and understanding the said Capt. Jenifer 
was added to the Commission for the peace for the sd court 
held for the sd County, admitted to the same place he was 
put in the sd Commission, he first taking the oathe of alle- 
giance and the oathe of a justice of the peace. 

"Given under my hand this ye 8th day of December, in 
the eight and twentieth years of the reigne of our Sovereigne 
Lord King Charles the Second, Annoque Dom., 1676." 



•!■!■! EASTEEX SHOBE OF YIEGIXIA HISTOEY 

The attitude of the Eastern Shore during Bacon's Rebel- 
lion may now be summed up in a few words, and the facts 
set forth in this chapter should convince the reader that our 
historians have erred grievously in their "slap-dash" ac- 
counts of the Eastern Shore at this time. 

First : The grievances of the Eastern Shoremen were local 
in character and not such as would lead to the taking up of 
arms. 

Second : The gentry, among whom were some of the most 
prominent men in the Colony, did not array themselves 
along any hitherto existing party lines. The large majority 
of them adhered to Berkeley and devoted their swords and 
means to his support, but those who joined Bacon denied 
that they did so out of a spirit of disloyalty to the King. 

Third : The masses were indifferent as to the Rebellion 
at first, but won over by promises of exemption from taxa- 
tion and the influence of the gentry, a few of the common 
people enlisted for service against Bacon. 

Fourth: Contemporaries and Historians have generally 
erred in charging the Eastern Shore with the disorderly mob 
of freebooters which gathered about Berkeley, because the 
point of assembly was on the peninsula. 



XIII 
Towns and Courthouses Built. Tobacco Troubles. 

Jacobitism 

The troublous period of Bacon's Rebellion and the con- 
stant excitement incident thereto had proved too much for 
the fierce old Governor. His health as well as his temper 
had been so overstrained that he was unequal to the task of 
governing the colony. He was recalled by the King, April 
27, 1677, and leaving the scenes of his glory and trouble 
soon after, died in England (in July) without seeing his 
royal master whom he had endeavored to serve so faithfully. 

The General Assembly which met at Middle Plantation, 
on October 10, 1677, at the call of Lieut. -Governor Herbert 
Jeffreys, continued its sittings for one month, and in that 
time undertook to settle the Indian troubles and many other 
pressing questions. We have no record of the Burgesses 
from the Eastern Shore, but representatives were sent to 
this assembly. General Custis, of Northampton, was ele- 
vated to the Council. The Burgesses of Acconiac introduced 
a most important matter bearing upon the liberties of the 
people, not only of the Eastern Shore, but of the whole col- 
ony. Until this time, witnesses were frequently allowed to 
testify without being sworn, and the accused was forced to - 
testify against himself, or to have his silence construed as a 
confession of guilt. In order to correct so grievous a prac- 
tise, contrary to the laws and liberties of the people, the 
question was raised, with the result that the Assembly took 
cognizance of the matter and ordered as follows: 

223 



22-1 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

* I pon a motion from Accomac County, sent by the Bur- 
gesses, it is answered and declared, that the law has provided 
that a person summoned as a witness against another, ought 
to answer upon oath, but no law can compel a man to answer 
against himself in any matter wherein he is liable to cor- 
poral punishment." 1 

This, indeed, was a great service on the part of the Acco- 
mac Burgesses and they should be credited for the stand 
they took in the matter. Furthermore, they pressed with 
great energy the claim of that county to exemption from 
taxes in accordance with Governor Berkeley's promise; but 
this was not the only promise of the departed Governor's 
which was not fulfilled. 

In 1679, the Governor of Virginia was invited to send 
representatives to a general council to be held in New York, 
in order that the various colonies might confer through their 
commissioners with Governor Andros as to Indian affairs 
generally and the Six Nations more particularly. These 
Indians had proved a great source of disturbance to the out- 
lying tribes, and extended their influence as far south as 
Virginia. As much of the trouble of 1676 was directly 
attributable to the activities of the New York Indians, Gov- 
ernor Chicheley commissioned Colonel William Kendall and 
Colonel Southey Littleton, of Northampton and Accomac 
respectively, to attend the conference. On the 31st of July, 
the commissioners arrived in New York with their creden- 
tials, and it was arranged to hold a council in the autumn at 
Albany, with the Onandagas and other bands of the Iroquois. 
The policy adopted by the colonies of acting in concert in 
their dealings with the Five Nations resulted in much good. 
Hitherto, each colony had safeguarded its own interests 
merely by diverting the Indians from attack upon itself, 

Miming, Vol. II, p. 422. 



EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 225 

without thought of the other colonies. Now, by united 
efforts, the Indians were to be gradually urged westward. 1 

We are told that the Virginia Commissioners accomplished 
very little except with respect to the Mohawks, but Mary- 
land, being more exposed to the inroads of the Five Nations, 
persisted in her efforts and finally negotiated successful 
treaties with them. 

While in New York, Colonel Southey Littleton died at 
the house of Robert Livingstone on the Hudson River near 
Albany. 2 

The feeling at this time that the Eastern Shore, or Acco- 
mack, as it was generally called, was a more or less separate 
province, in more ways than its geographical position, is 
illustrated by Act IX of the Assembly which convened in 
April, 1679. After authorizing Major Smith and Captain 
William Byrd to seat certain lands at the head of the Rap- 
pahannock and James River, and mentioning the colony in 
a general way, the act prescribes: 

"And it is further enacted by the present Grand Assembly 
and the authority thereof, And it is hereby enacted, that the 
like privilege and immunities on like conditions and with 
like exceptions be granted to such one or more persons, who- 
soever shall be willing to undertake the same on the Eastern 
Shore, at the frontiers thereof at such places as shall be ap- 
pointed by the Grand Assembly, etc." 3 

J For full account of Indian Councils of this period, see Osgood's 
American Colonies in 17th Cent., Vol. II. pp. 422, et seq. Colden, Five 
Nations, p. 50. Heckewelder, Hist, of Indian Nations, Introduction. 

2 The will of Col. Littleton, for years, could not be found. Very 
recently, the late John Cropper, of Washington, discovered a record of 
the will, which had been filed in Albany. He mentioned the fact to his 
host, Mr. Oliver Livingstone, and was informed by him that the testator 
had died in the house of the Livingstones on the Hudson River. 

3 Hening. Vol. II, p. 434. 



22ri EASTERX SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

The act grew out of the desire to extend the settled portions 
of the Colony, thus rewarding adventurous persons who were 
willing to risk the danger of contact with the Savages. But 
no such danger was to be anticipated on the peninsula. The 
Maryland frontier was as well settled as any portion of Acco- 
mac, and the few Indians remaining there were in a state of 
perfect subjugation. Such an offer must have been made 
under a misapprehension of the facts, unless the policy of 
the government was to repudiate the Calvert-Scarburgh 
boundary and secure a better title to the disputed territory 
by occupation. If such was the design, it was abandoned 
soon after 1679, for in 1688 the Calvert-Scarburgh line was 
recognized by the colony, and it was regarded as a landmark 
throughout years of contention, finally resulting in an adjust- 
ment by arbitration in 1894. 

As further illustration of the peculiar view entertained 
with respect to the Eastern Shore, we find this Act of 1679 : 

"And to the end that the Eastern Shore may not alto- 
gether be left without defense against the Indian Enemy, 
if any shall attempt thereon, or any such attempt shall arise 
among the inhabitants there; be it enacted by this grand 
assembly, and the authority thereof, and is hereby enacted, 
that the inhabitants on the Eastern Shore may have, and it 
is hereby declared that they have, the same liberty to make 
garrisons and raise soldiers in a manner and form as it is 
allowed to the several counties on the Western Shore, or to 
raise and employ their soldiers in ranging as they may find 
occasion." 1 

The great desire of the King for many years had been to 
see populous towns and villages scattered over his Virginia 
domains. The Acts encouraging frontier posts not only in- 
volved purposes of general defense and the opening up of 

'Hening, Vol. II, p. 439. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 227 

new territory, but were also designed to promote the forma- 
tion of centers of population. The rapid growth of the New 
England towns misled the King into believing that a similar 
development could be brought about in Virginia, and from 
an early date he had proceeded to legislate towns into exist- 
ence. But the towns so far had remained 011 paper, giving 
their names only to large stretches of wilderness. 

The seductive sweetness of life upon the healthy soil of 
the peninsula, with its many coves, bays, inlets and nav- 
igable creeks, enticed the settlers to its shores, and in spite 
of the wishes of the King, the settlers spread out along the 
coast and nothing could induce them to give up the placid 
prosperity and happiness of their sea-side farms in exchange 
for life in crowded towns yet to be founded. Xo argument 
could persuade the planter of the Eastern Shore to give up 
his acres on the banks of the creeks and the shores of the 
bay, where ships that sailed across the seas might tie up to 
his own little wharf of pine poles and oyster shell ballast, 
in sight of the growing products, which were to make up the 
foreign-bound cargoes. 

The General Assembly showed great willingness to en- 
courage the growth of towns in compliance with the wishes 
of the English Government, although its members must have 
perceived very clearly the impracticability of their measures. 

In the session of 1661-2, the law requiring that every ship 
which arrived in James River should sail to Jamestown and 
there obtain a license to trade was reenacted, 1 in spite of the 
fact that such a measure would add nothing to the growth 
of that place, as had been already proved by previous ex- 
perience, and must enhance to an appreciable extent the 
cost of all imported articles in consequence of the longer 

l Hening, Vol. II, p. 135. 



228 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

voyage and unavoidable delay in delivering them, for the 
expenses of the vessel had to be recouped by the higher prices 
demanded from the purchaser of the goods. There was but 
one justification for the action of the Assembly in taking 
steps to compel all vessels bringing cargoes of goods into the 
colony to go to Jamestown and there obtain a license to sell, 
namely, the endeavor to keep the volume of revenue undi- 
minished, since all liquors, if landed elsewhere, escaped the 
burden of the import tax. But if this was the motive gov- 
erning the Assembly, it was soon seen that the regulation 
was impracticable. A determined effort was now made to 
carry out the instructions that a town should be built upon 
every river to serve as a port of entry. In the session of 
1662, there was passed the most detailed and carefully con- 
sidered measure which had as yet been brought forward. 1 
This law constitutes one of the most interesting acts of legis- 
lation in colonial history, and might be regarded as a re- 
markable "triumph of legislative hope over practical ex- 
perience," were it not for the statement of the preamble 
that the Assembly had undertaken to encourage the building 
of towns because they looked upon it as their duty to conform 
to the wishes of their sovereign in England. There is a 
brief reference to the probable economic advantages to accrue 
to themselves. The determination to establish these towns 
had its origin almost exclusively in a feeling of loyalty, a 
poor justification for so momentous a step. The hand of 
Berkeley is detected in the whole framework of the statute 
and his preference is evidently consulted. 

A full synopsis of this act will be found interesting as 
revealing the procedure of the General Assembly in the 
seventeenth century when it sought to build up a town in 

'Ibid, pp. 172-170. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 229 

the face of a powerful combination of hostile influences. The 
best means to promote the growth of the capital was the 
problem which was to occupy the attention of the colony 
during the first year after the passage of the statute, and at 
the end of that time the public energies were to be devoted 
to establishing a town on the York, Kappahannock, and 
Potomac respectively, and on the Eastern Shore. 1 

As was to be expected, no town on the Eastern Shore of 
any size sprang up as a result of such fostering methods, and 
the matter was dropped until 1680, when an elaborate meas- 
ure was drawn up by the Assembly to encourage town build- 
ing, known as the Act of Cohabitation. Under the terms of 
this statute, it was provided that fifty acres should be pur- 
chased by the authorities of each county within its own 
boundaries, to be held by duly appointed feofees in trust. 
Calvert's Neck was selected as the town site for Accomac, 
and the Secretary's Plantation on King's Creek for North- 
ampton. As an inducement to build on these sites, a lot, 
half an acre in extent, was granted in fee simple to any one, 
provided he would build a residence or store on it; the 
conveyance to be subject to the additional condition that the 
beneficiary should pay one hundred pounds of tobacco to the 
county. 

The failure to build within three months operated as a 
forfeiture of the lot. If half an acre appeared insufficient 
for his purpose to any settler who wished to establish him- 
self in any of these towns, he might secure an acre on condi- 
tion that he should erect on it two residences or two ware- 
houses, and should pay to the county an additional one hun- 
dred pounds of tobacco. The tobacco was forfeited if in the 
course of three months he neglected to erect the houses agreed 

truce's Economic Hist, of Va., Vol. II, pp. 539 to 554. 



16 



230 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

upon. The surveyors who determined the boundaries were 
to receive, on the delivery of the plats, twenty pounds of 
tobacco for every half-acre laid off. If a surveyor refused 
when requested to make a survey of a lot, he subjected him- 
self to the forfeiture of five hundred pounds of the same 
commodity to the person seeking his services. All the pro- 
ducts of native growth and manufacture were to be brought 
to these towns, there to be sold, and then to be carried on 
board for exportation. The penalty imposed for a failure 
to comply with this order was the forfeiture of the articles. 
All forms of merchandise, all English servants and negro 
slaves imported into the Colony, were to be landed and to be 
disposed of only at these towns, under the pain of confisca- 
tion if the regulation was violated. Cattle and provisions 
were excepted from the operation of this rule. The cost of 
hiring a sloop, the only means of transporting the tobacco 
from the plantation, was fixed at twenty pounds of that com- 
modity for each hogshead, provided the distance to be trav- 
ersed did not exceed thirty miles; if it were greater than 
this, the charge was to be forty pounds, and should the owner 
of the sloop demand more, he was to be punished by the for- 
feiture of one hundred pounds for each hogshead conveyed 
by him at the illegal rate. The expense of storage in a ware- 
house was to be the same for a single day and a single month, 
namely, ten pounds of tobacco a hogshead. Tf the period 
ran beyond a month, the additional charge for each month 
was fixed at six pounds. In order to facilitate the transpor- 
tation of the tobacco belonging to persons whose plantations 
were situated at a distance from the nearest site chosen for 
a town, these persons were permitted to appropriate land at 
the most convenient point for the dispatch of vessels, on 
which a rolling-house was to be erected to furnish accom- 
modation for all the producers in their neighborhoods. When 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 231 

the planter had prepared his crop for shipment, he could 
convey his hogsheads to this house for safe-keeping until a 
sloop or shallop arrived to transport them to the nearest 
port of entry. If he had a sloop or shallop of his own, he 
could either carry his tobacco to the rolling-house by water 
or directly to the legal port and there have it deposited in 
the public warehouse. The rolling-house was expected to be 
a shelter not only for the tobacco in the course of transporta- 
tion to the port of entry, but also for the goods which had 
been unloaded at the latter place and had afterwards been 
brought to the rolling-house for distribution among the 
planters residing in the neighborhood. It can be seen how 
seriously a provision of this kind, if carried fully into effect, 
would have added to the expenses of the planter. Instead of 
dropping his anchor at his wharf and there discharging a 
cargo of goods and taking on a cargo of tobacco, the trading- 
vessel would have stopped at a point ten, twenty, or even 
fifty miles away. Whether the planter was compelled to 
reach this by transporting his tobacco in a hired shallop or 
sloop, or in a vessel of his own, he would have been put to 
an expense for which he could expect no return. The inter- 
vention of a rolling-house would have been favorable to his 
convenience, but would not have diminished the charge im- 
posed by the system of ports of entry. Under the terms of 
this law, the tobacco conveyed thither was to be exempted 
in the course of transportation, and after it reached its desti- 
nation, from the process of law for any debt which might 
have been contracted previous to the passage of the statute, 
and the same privilege was extended to the bodies and estates 
of the new town. In neither case, however, was it to con- 
tinue for a longer period than five years. At the end of that 
time, the creditors of such persons might bring suit without 
any apprehension lest the statute of limitations should be 



232 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

offered in bar. To enjoy this protection, it was necessary 
that the debt should not have been contracted within the 
bounds of one of the proposed corporations. After the publi- 
cation of the Act, all mechanics residing in the new com- 
munities were to be exempted for a period of five years for 
the payment of levies, on condition that they neither planted 
nor tended tobacco. In order to diminish the expense en- 
tailed in establishing a town, it was provided that two coun- 
ties might unite and erect it upon a site equally convenient 
to the inhabitants of both. 

This Act was as judicious and as far-seeing in its details 
as any law, with so impracticable an object in view, could 
have been. No influence was omitted that was likely to im- 
press the minds of persons who were in a position to build 
in the towns projected. The offer of a lot for a small amount 
of tobacco and the exemption within the boundaries of each 
town of the person and property of its citizens from the pro- 
cess of law for the recovery of debts which had been con- 
tracted previously elsewhere, were in themselves inducements 
of the highest importance. The law of 1680 was not open 
to the objection which could be very justly urged against 
the statute of 1G71, for it did not seek to establish one port 
on each of the four large rivers of the Colony ; on the con- 
trary, a port of entry was appointed for each county on a 
site admitted to be the most convenient for a majority of its 
inhabitants. 

In accord with the provisions of the Act of Cohabitation, 
steps were taken by the authorities of all the counties to lay 
off sites for towns at the different places designated by law. 
Records of this fact have come down to us in a few instances 
only. 1 

'Bruce's Economic Hist, of Va., Vol. II, pp. 549-552. 



EASTEEN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 233 

Later on, the failure of the Cohabitation Act to create 
flourishing ports led to the enactment, in 1691, of the Act 
for Ports, practically the same town sites being designated 
as in the previous measure. The new act provided for the 
forfeiture of all goods not cleared through one of the estab- 
lished ports. The statute proved so unpopular that it was 
suspended in the session of 1692-93. 

The site for a town in Accomac, designated by the Act of 
1680, was particularly described as "Calvert's Neck on the 
northwest side at the head of an Anchor Creeke." 1 This 
town was called Onancock after the creek upon which it was 
located, and is one of the oldest towns on the peninsula. Pur- 
suant to the Act creating the town, the first county court 
house was erected there, and also a warehouse. During the 
next few years, several dwellings were built near the public 
buildings, 2 and a Clerk's Office was added to the settlement. 
Onancock was the county seat until about 1786, when a new 
court house was erected on the land of Kichard Drummond, 
midway between the sea-side and bay-side of the peninsula. 3 
The old county seat was abandoned in order that the new 
court house might be equally convenient to all of the inhabi- 
tants of the county, and with that end in view it was located 
at a central point, and called Accomac Court House. A 
cluster of houses soon sprang up about the court house, and 
by reason of Kichard Drummond owning the land, the town 
became known as Drummondtown. To this day the place is 
called both Accomac Court House and Drummondtown. 

While the court house was taken from Onancock in 1786, 
the clerk's office was not moved until a later date. 4 

'Purvis mistook the name Onancock for the name an Anchor. 
Hening, Vol. II, p. 473. 

2 Hening, Vol. IV, p. 53-59. 

3 See Petition of Inhabitants of Accomac, Dec. 7, 1786-18, Abstracts 
of MS. in Va. State Library. 

Abstracts of MS. in Va. State Library, Petitions A-19 and A-20, 
Oct. 22, 1787. 



234 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

The site first selected for the town in Northampton was 
described as being "at the north side of King's Creeke, be- 
ginning at the mouth, and soe along the creeke on the land 
belonging to Mr. Secretaryes office." 1 Thus we see that the 
original site of the town of "Accomack," founded in 1620, 
was selected in preference to Old Plantation, King's Creek 
affording better depth and anchorage. This site was in turn 
abandoned and in 1691 the town was ordered to be located 
"upon one of the branches of Cherrystone Creek on the land 
of Mrs. Anna Lee, daughter of Captain Hancock Lee, now 
in the tenure of the widow of Andrew Small." 2 This town 
was known as Cherrytone and was not far removed from 
"Huntington," the estate of Colonel Obedience Robins. The 
only town to-day of any size in this part of the peninsula 
is just south of King's Creek and on the site designated in 
1680. It is known as Cape Charles City, though ten miles 
north of the true cape. 

The first court house in Northampton County was built 
just after the division of the peninsula and was located at a 
place called Town Fields, by reason of the fact that it was 
on the site of the original Accomack town on Secretary 
Pory's land. According to the old records, it was located on 
the west side of a "gutt that empties into King's Creek near 
the present city." This building was completed after March 
2, 1664, since, on that date, Court was held at the house of 
Jacob Dalby. 

The structure was but a temporary one and very small, 
being only twenty feet long by twenty wide and nine feet 
in pitch. The work, which was undertaken by Colonel Wil- 

'Hening, Vol. II, p. 473. 
2 Hening, Vol. IV, p. 53-59. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 235 

liam Waters, must have been finished by 1671, for, in the 
course of that year the court gave an order for the erection 
of a bar, as a great pressing forward of the attendants dis- 
turbed the quiet and decorum of the sittings. Six years 
later, an Act of Assembly having authorized the erection of 
a new court house, the freeholders and householders, who 
alone enjoyed the suffrage, were summoned by the justices 
to meet at the old court house, on an appointed day, to select 
a new site. 1 The first building cost 7,122 lbs. of tobacco, 
which was advanced by Colonel Waters and refunded to him 
by order of the court. 

Peachburg, located between the Horns of Hungar's Creek, 
was selected as the site for the new court house built in 1680. 
This structure cost 7,127 lbs. of tobacco, and was erected 
on the land of Colonel William Kendall, who gave 300 acres 
to the county for the purpose of building the court house 
thereon. In the deed of gift, it was specified that the court 
house should be 25 feet long and 18 feet wide, with a chim- 
ney on the outside. The site selected for this building was 
near the present court house, and was chosen because equi- 
distant between "Old Plantation" and Bridgetown or Nas- 
sawattocks, the only two villages in the lower peninsula in 
1680. More than one hundred years ago the present court 
house and clerk's office were erected, and having no use for 
the older building, the county leased it to a Mr. Nottingham 
for one dollar per annum, provided he would put a new roof 
on it, and the lease was to run as long as the new roof lasted 
and the rent was paid. Nottingham is said to have soaked 
his shingles in linseed oil, and until recently the roof was 
almost as good as ever, to the great satisfaction of Notting- 
ham's heirs, who annually paid their rental. Peachburg is 

Northampton County Records, Vol. 1645-51, p. 173; Vol. 1654-55, 
p. 4; Vol. 1657-64, folio, p. 191; 1664-74, p. 110; Vol. 1674-79, p. 203. 



836 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

now called Eastville, which was the metropolis of the East- 
ern Shore of Virginia, until the N. Y. P. & N. E. E. estab- 
lished a terminus at Cape Charles City in 1884. 

While the original towns were building on paper in the 
latter part of the seventeenth century, and tottering upon 
"sandy foundations," many little villages sprang up about the 
wharves and creeks, none of which, for many years, aspired 
to corporate existence. The wharf from which the planters 
loaded their tobacco or the simple store where the ship- 
chandlers bartered their ropes and anchors, formed the 
nucleus of these settlements. Or perhaps some skillful ship- 
builder, like Walter Price or Christopher Stribling, who 
bought land in Northampton between 1666-1675, plied their 
trade along the shores of a creek where good anchorage 
might be had, and offered the attraction of a diminutive 
port. 

These old carpenters and ship-builders seem to have been 
constantly occupied and prosperous, for we read of William 
Foster of Northampton, and Eobert Wilson of Accomac, sell- 
ing, between 1669 and 1690, fifteen hundred and twelve hun- 
dred acres of land respectively, all acquired, no doubt, with 
the profits of their trade. 1 That the ship-builders and car- 
penters of the Eastern Shore at that time belonged to a class 
enjoying unusual advantages is shown by the fact that many 
could sign their names, an accomplishment which was by no 
means general at that day. 2 Even to this day, the ship-builders 
and mechanics of the Eastern Shore enjoy a higher social 
position than elsewhere in the State. 

The Act of 1680 for establishing towns, and which required 
vessels to be laden at certain specified places, worked, as we 

•Records of Northampton County, Vol. 1668-1685, p. 1. Records of 
Accomac Co., Vol. 1676-1690, p. 9. 

"Bruce's Economic Hist, of Va., Vol. II, p. 424. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 237 

have seen, great hardships upon the planters when the time 
came to ship tobacco, for any law which affected this great 
crop and medium of exchange instantly reflected upon the 
welfare of the people. While not as much tobacco was raised 
on the Eastern Shore as in the other counties of Virginia, yet 
it was the staple crop, and at an early date received the atten- 
tion of the authorities at James City. We have seen in a 
previous chapter that warehouses were established, and that, 
in 1639, it was necessary to appoint official viewers to see 
that the staple came up to the legal specifications. 1 

On February 20, 1640, a proclamation was issued by Gov- 
ernor Francis Wyatt, prohibiting tobacco from being shipped 
without examination, much loss having occurred the year 
before by dishonest people mixing new and old leaf. Ship- 
masters were required to give an account of the number of 
hogsheads they accepted for transportation. 

In 1641, all other crops had been so sadly neglected in 
favor of tobacco that, on June 25th of that year, in order 
to encourage more attention to grain and other products, a 
proclamation was issued forbidding the setting out of more 
than 1,000 tobacco plants by any one planter; and the com- 
mission merchants, buying on foreign accounts, as well as the 
masters of ships, were prohibited from taking tobacco except 
from the established warehouses. Such a restriction not only 
discouraged the planting of tobacco but enabled the customs 
officers to collect the revenue with ease. 

The duty of two shillings per hogshead on tobacco, repealed 
in 1659, was revived in 1662, and was for a long time a 
source of much revenue. During the interval between 1662 
and 1679 it was found necessary to pass a special law for the 
collection of this duty on the Eastern Shore as well as in the 

'See chapter on County or Shire of Accomack. 



338 EASTEBN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

other parts of the Colony. Many ships arriving in the Ches- 
apeake, anchored along the shores of the peninsula, and 
sloops and shallops transferred the tobacco of the local plant- 
ers over the boundary to Maryland, where it was re-shipped 
to foreign ports on these same ships. Planters were, there- 
fore, required to inform the tax collector as to the amount 
of their crops, and the persons to whom these crops had been 
sold. This ordinance remained in force for seventeen years. 1 

In a petition offered by Colonel Edmund Scarburgh in 
1663, it is affirmed that, at this time, each planter was re- 
quired to take an oath that he would give a true statement as 
to the amount of tobacco which he had produced during the 
session just closed, to whom it was sold, and by what ship or 
means it was transported out of the county. 2 A short time 
before this, five Dutchmen, who formed a part of the crew of 
the "Northampton," having been put on shore in order to 
comply with the act which prescribed that three-fourths of 
the Sailors manning an English vessel should be English- 
men, the court ordered the payment to these alien mariners 
of their full wages and an additional sum to meet the 1 expense 
of their passage to Europe. 3 

There is evidence that even the customs officers sometimes 
connived at the violation of the act. Thus, in 1663, the 
"Royal Oak" was seized in the waters of Accomac because 
it had come directly from Holland with a cargo of merchan- 
dise. The owners appear to have made, with little difficulty, 
an arrangement with Colonel Scarburgh, the customs officer 
of the Eastern Shore, by which he consented to allow the ves- 
sel to be loaded with tobacco and sail directly to the Low 
( !ountri< s. 4 

'Ilening. Vol. II, p. 443. 

2 Accomac County Records, Vol. 1663- 16(5(5, p. 48. 
'Northampton County Records, Vol. 1657-1664, p. 86. 
'Accomac County Records, Vol. 1663-1666, p. 46. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 239 

In 1699, there were eight districts where taxes on export 
tobacco were collected. Of the eight districts, Accomac pro- 
duced by far the smallest amount of tobacco. 1 

The Act of 1680, so far as it attempted to regulate the 
shipment of tobacco, was found impracticable and was openly 
disobeyed. The people of the Eastern Shore rose en masse 
to protect against the hardships of the law; and in compli- 
ance with the petitions of several of the counties on the 
Western Shore, an Assembly was called together in April, 
1682, by Sir Henry Chicheley, who was acting as Deputy 
Governor in the absence of Lord Culpeper. After much use- 
less debate, the Assembly was dissolved, nothing having been 
accomplished. The next month, the people in certain sec- 
tions of Eastern Virginia and on the Eastern Shore began 
a crusade of "tobacco cutting," or destruction of the plants 
in the beds. The entire crop for the next season was threat- 
ened, and in vain the Deputy Governor endeavored to put an 
end to the practise. 

Robert Beverley, clerk of the House of Burgesses, and a 
man who had rendered valuable service to Berkeley during 
the Rebellion, was charged with the instigation of tobacco 
cutting, and other offenses, and was arrested in May, and 
confined on a vessel lying in the Rappahannock. On June 
15th, he was ordered to be sent as a prisoner to the Eastern 
Shore, and to be conveyed by a guard and the sheriff of York 
on board Colonel John Custis's sloop and delivered to the 
sheriff of Northampton. 2 But before Colonel Custis's sloop 
set sail, Beverley escaped, probably with the assistance of 
the guard. He was re-captured, however, at his home in 
Middlesex, and on June 25th he was again sent on board 
Custis's sloop to be transported to Northampton, where he 

1 Bruee's Economic Hist, of Va., Vol. I, p. 456. 
2 Hening, Vol. Ill, p. 545-547. 



240 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

was con lined. The privilege of guarding Beverley, was, no 
doubt, an unpleasant one for the sheriff of Northampton, for 
a number of the principal citizens of the Eastern Shore were 
implicated in ''tobacco cutting," and were even now fugitive 
from justice. Besides, Beverley had spent much time on 
the Eastern Shore as an officer of the King during the Rebel- 
lion, and being affable and courteous he had made many 
friends at the Northampton Court. On September 25th, 
Beverley petitioned the general court through the court in 
Northampton, for a writ of habeas corpus, but was denied 
the right. 1 But the authorities were afraid to proceed fur- 
ther against him, and waited impatiently for the return of 
Lord Culpeper. Early in November the Governor returned 
and convened the Assembly on the 25th of the month. In the 
meantime, the Deputy Governor had not handled all of the 
i lant cutters with as much deference as he had shewn Bever- 
ley. Many of the ringleaders had been apprehended and some 
of them hanged. An Act prescribing others and making the 
offense high treason had put an end to tobacco-cutting and 
forced the guilty to flee the jurisdiction. Among these were 
Richard Bayly, who had escaped after being condemned; 
John Hayley, Henry Ismon and John Wise, all of Accomac. 

In the proclamation of amnesty which the Governor issued 
in May, 1683, all offenders were pardoned except Beverley, 
a ii>l a few others." Beverley in the meantime had been trans- 
ferred to York and was proceeded against under various 
charges. The trouble blew over in a short time and soon 
the guilty Accomackians returned to their homes. 

About this time, the counties were sub-divided into divi- 
sions, subject to rules and alterations of the local court. 
Precincts or burroughs were formed, and a constable ap- 

I lining. Vol. Ill, p. 545-547. 
liming, Vol. Ill, p. 563-564. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 241 

pointed for each ; and each precinct or walk had its county 
road surveyor. Then the entire colony was divided into five 
great escheat districts, the limits of which were the natural 
ili visions of tide-water Virginia formed by the peninsulas be- 
tween the great rivers. 

The district of the Eastern Shore was divided into five 
sub-divisions or necks of land, each with its escheat master. 

Another great division of the colony was that into six 
revenue districts according to the navigable waters and ship- 
ping. Each district was commanded by a naval officer, 
usually a member of the Council ; and for each district there 
was a Collector of Customs. At first, the Pocomoke River 
was a separate district from that of the lower peninsula, but 
they were subsequently united into one. 1 

The naval officer and collector for the Eastern Shore, under 
Governor Andros, from 1692 to 1698, was Colonel Chas. 
Scarburgh. He was preceded by his father in the office of 
Collector and was succeeded by his son Henry. 

It will be recalled that one of the complaints in the North- 
ampton petition grew out of the irregularity with which 
courts were held. This was also a source of much complaint 
in Accomack. In October, 1686, a law was passed appoint- 
ing the third Tuesday of June, September, November, De- 
cember, February and March, as court days, and providing 
for at least six sittings of the court each year. 2 But even this 
arrangement did not prove adequate, and in September, 
1696, it was repealed, and the first Tuesday of each month 
appointed as Court Day. 3 A monthly court day for North- 
ampton was also established. 

Beverley's History of Va., p. 195. 
*Hening, Vol. Ill, p. 30. 
3 Henin-, Vol. Ill, p. 140. 



242 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTOEY 

The Assembly of 1685, of which Colonel William Kendall 
of Northampton was Speaker, was a stormy one. 1 This was 
the period of Jacobitism in Virginia. 2 James II, at first 
hailed with delight by Virginians as King, soon fell into dis- 
favor among his colonial subjects. He laid a new tax upon 
their tobacco; discouraged their efforts to establish factories 
which would make them more independent of the mother 
country; forced a large number of military prisoners inta 
Virginia, and vented his spleen in numerous ways upon the 
Colony when the Burgesses refused to legislate as he directed. 

For some time the Burgesses had been able to accomplish 
nothing in the way of needed legislation. The Assembly 
had been frequently prorogued. Its clerk, Robert Beverley, 
had been disfranchised and prosecuted, and at last in May, 
1687, the body was dissolved. The inherited loyalty of the 
Virginians to the Stuarts was overtaxed by such proceedings. 
The early colonists had entertained great affection for the 
monarchy, and as Virginia was but little affected by the 
misgovernment of James I and Charles I, the colonists were, 
with few exceptions, loyal to the Crown and Stuart family. 
Loyalty in the main, however, is but a sentiment after all, 
and few sentiments thrive when contrary to the interest of 
the sentimentalist. Oppressive measures, high taxation, 
avaricious and law-contemning governors, low prices of to- 
bacco, and the entire disregard of the wishes and opinions of 
the Virginia people, as evidenced by the grants to Arlington 
and Culpeper, left only a feeble sentiment of loyalty by the 
year 1688. 

'Col. Va. Register, p. 84. McDonald Papers, Va. St. Library (copied 
from English public record). See error as to representatives of Acco- 
mac and Northampton. 

"See Va. Mag. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. VI, p. 389, for interesting facts. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 243 

In addition to his other offenses, the King was charged 
with the desire to re-establish the Church of Rome in his 
domains. The ground which Catholicism was rapidly re- 
gaining in England under James's fostering hand, was a 
source of the greatest alarm to the Protestants in Virginia, 
whether Church of England men or Non-Conformists. The 
clergy had become inflamed and were preaching a holy war, 
actually inciting the people of one county to take up arms. 
As early as 1686, the excitement had spread to the Eastern 
Shore, where the Anglican Church had been thoroughly re- 
established, after years of laxity. So palpable were the 
designs of the King, that Colonel Edmund Bowman, a 
magistrate of Accomac, lost his head and cried out in public 
against the popish allies of his Sovereign. 1 He was promptly 
summoned before the Council on a charge of treason, but 
being a wealthy and influential man and of the same views 
as many of the Council, he escaped with a fine. 2 

A number of appointees of the King were suspected of 
being papists ; 3 in fact two new members of the Council 
were said to have been selected by the King on account of 
their Catholic inclinations. This led Colonel Charles Scar- 
burgh, of Accomac, a man as bold and fearless as his father 
before him and an aspirant to the office of Councillor, to 
exclaim in great anger in the presence of the Governor, Lord 
Howard, "that his Majesty King James would wear out the 
Church of England, for that when there were any vacant 
offices, he supplied them with men of a different persua- 
sion !" 4 The indiscreet Scarburgh was at once arrested for 

Turk's History of Virginia, Vol. II, p. 297. 
2 See Article on Jacobitism in Va. Mag. of Hist, and Biog. 
3 Burk's History of Virginia, Vol. II, p. 297. 

4 Campbell attributes this remark to Col. John Scarburgh. p. 342. 
Cooke to Col. Edmund, p. 301. 



24A EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

such treasonable utterances, but not until he had voiced the 
sentiments of the colonists in general, which no other had 
had the courage to do. He at once became the hero of the 
people, who impatiently witnessed his martyrdom in their 
behalf. On October 18th, the Governor reported to the 
Council that he had removed Scarburgh from his various 
offices for treason to the crown, and he was forthwith ordered 
to appear for trial on such a charge. 1 The prosecution, how- 
ever, like the one to which his kinsman, Colonel Bowman, had 
been subjected, was more or less of a farce, for the temper 
of the people was not such as to permit of harm to their 
champion. Scarburgh was soon discharged and reinstated 
in his offices. This action on the part of the authorities was 
an acknowledgement of their disapproval of the present state 
of affairs and for it the Council would no doubt have been 
reprimanded had not the King been intently absorbed with 
more pressing affairs at home. 

At a most opportune time, so far as Virginia was con- 
cerned, the despicable James II abdicated during the early 
winter of 1688, and the excitement in the Colony at once 
abated, and finally disappeared upon the ascension of 
William and Mary to the throne in February, 1689. Lord 
Howard was relieved and succeeded by Nicholson as 
Lieutenant Governor; who, in turn, was succeeded by Sir 
Edmund Andros, in 1692. 

As an indication of how intensely James was hated by the 
hitherto loyal gentry of Accomac, an interesting case is cited. 
hi March, 1689, when a party of gentlemen were dining 
with Colonel John Custis, a toast to the Prince of Orange 
was proposed. Henry Pike, one of the guests, as he raised 

'Notes from Colonial Papers, American and West Indies, 1685-1688. 
Minutes of Council of Virginia, Oct. 18, 1688. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 245 

his bumper, exclaimed, "God save the King," whereupon 
he was immediately arrested by his host and companions. 
The news of the King's abdication and the accession of 
William had not then been received. 

Now that Protestantism had conquered, Colonel Charles 
Searburgh was rewarded for his fearless and uncompromis- 
ing resistance to the schemes of King James and Effingham, 
and was appointed to the Council in 1691, remaining in that 
office until succeeded by Colonel John Custis III, in 1699. 

While the religious excitement was in progress, Colonel 
John Custis, of "Arlington," Sheriff of Northampton, had 
been guilty of misconduct in office, in that he had taken 
unlawful fees from the people in May, 1688. It does not 
appear that there was any question of dishonesty on his part, 
but simply that he claimed certain fees which the people 
maintained were not due him, and that he made his returns 
accordingly. A complaint was thereupon forwarded to the 
Assembly, who referred it to the Governor and Council. 
The Council refused to take cognizance of the matter, and 
on May 9th, the Governor "gave a soft answer" 1 to the com- 
plaint against Custis and promised the Burgesses to rebuke 
him. The Burgesses, however, were not willing to be put 
off in this way, and after they had demanded that they be 
given the opportunity to prove the charges against Custis, 
he was ordered to be tried. On April 18th, of the following 
year, he was fined 2,000 pounds of tobacco for making false 
returns as sheriff. 2 

On June 3, 1699, the Militia officers appointed for the 
Eastern Shore under Nicholson's new regime were : 3 

*A very expressive phrase. 

historical Memoranda Relating to The House of Burgesses 1685-91. 
Va. Mag. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. V. 

Congressional Library Manuscript. Records of Va. Council, 1698- 
1700. 



17 



246 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

"Accomack — Charles Scarburgh, Col. & Com'dr in Chief, 
Richard Bayly, Major. 

Northampton — John Custis, Col. & Com'dr in Chief, 
Nathaniel Littleton, Lieut. Col., 
Wm. Waters, Major." 

The population of the Eastern Shore by 1700 had greatly 
increased, and Acconiac had far outstripped Northampton. 
In the former county there were about 1,000 tithables, and 
in the latter about 700, with a total population for the 
peninsula of about 5,000 souls. There were practically no 
Indians left. The following Board of Trade Reports for 
this period are interesting as well as instructive. In it we 
find the principal offices of the Eastern Shore filled by the 
sons and grandsons of the first settlers. 

"Board of Trade— 1699 

On the Eastern Shore — Henry Scarburgh, Collector. 

John Custis, Naval Officer and Receiver of the Virginia 
duties. 

For the Eastern Shore — Charles Scarburgh, Esq., one 
of his Ma'tys honble Council, was appointed Collector by 
the honble Comrs of the Customs, Naval Officer and Receiver 
of the Virginia duties, by Sr. Wm. Andros, &c. 

NORTHAMPTON COUNTY 

Civ. 

Coll. John Stringer Mr. Argoll Yeardley 

Lt. Coll. Wm. Waters Mr. Hancock Lee 

Coll. Wm. Kendall Mr. John Custis 

Capt. John Robins Mr. Tho. Harmanson 

Maj'r Wm. Spencer Mr. John Eyre 

Capt. ffra. Piggott ('apt. Wm. Whittington 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 247 



Coll. John Custis 
Coll. John Stringer 
Lt. Coll. Wm. Waters 
Maj'r Wm. Spencer 
Capt. Wm. Whittington 
(Horse) 



Mil. 



Capt. John Robins 
( 'apt. ffra. Piggott 
Capt. Hancock Lee 



ACCOMACK COUNTY 

Civ. 



Maj'r Charles Scarborou(gh) 
Lt. Coll. John West 
Maj'r Edmund Bourn (an) 
Capt. Danll Jennifer 
Capt. Wm. Custis 
Capt. Edmund Scarborough 
Mr. George Nicholas Haak 
(Hack?) 



Capt. Rich'd Hill 

Mr. Rich'd Bayly 

Mr. Obedience Johnson 

Mr. John Wallop 

Mr. Hillary Stringe(r) 

Mr. Tho. Wilbourne 



Mil. 



Coll. Wm. Kendall 
Lt. Coll. John West 
Maj'r Charles Scarborgh 



Capt. Edmund Scarburg 
Capt. Danll Jenifer 
Capt. Obedience Johnson 



The name of other Counties, the names of the Justices of 
the Peace for the same, the date of their Commission, the 
name of the severall Sheriffs for this present yeare, 1699, 
And the names of the severall Clerks of the County Courts 
in this his Majties Colony and Dominion of Virginia, are 
as followeth: 1 



Northampton — 8 June, 1699 



John Robins 
John Custis 
Philip Fisher 



Obedience Johnson 

(Sheriff) Nathaniel Littleton 

William Waters 



Wa. Mag. of Hist, and Bio., Vol. I, pp. 229-231. 



248 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

QUORUM 

Ralph Pigot Jacob Johnson 

Wm. Harmanson Thomas Savage 

John Powell (irorge Harmanson 

Daniell Neech, Cl'k Court Northampton 

ACCOMACK 

Edmond Scarburgh (Sheriff) Tho. Welbourne 

George Nicholas Hack Edmond Custis 

Richard Bayly 

QUORUM 

George Parker Robert Pitt 

Robert Hutchinson John Watts 

Edward Moore 

John Washburne, Cl'k Accomack 

Escheator for Eastern Shore — Col. John Custis. 

Surveyor, Northampton and Accomac — Edmond Scar- 
burgh. 

Board of Trade Report — 1702 1 

Indians: Pungotege, Matompkin, Gingotege, Kiquotank, 
Matchapungo, Occhanock, Chisonessex, Gingase. 

Navigable Rivers: Eastern Shore, Northampton, Accomac 
Rivers. 

Navigable Creeks and Members thereunto belonging: 
Smith's Island R., Cherrystone C, Hungars C, Naswarock 
C, Occohannock C, Cradock C, Nandua C, Pungotege C, 
Ononcock C, Checonesick C, Deep C, Hunting C, Poco- 
mock R. 

*Va. Mag. of Hist, and Bio., Vol. I, pp. 364, 370. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 249 

ACCOMACK COUNTY 

Acres of land— 200,861. 

Tithables— 1,141. 

Burgesses — Tho. Welburn, Tully Robinson. 

Justices of the Peace — Edmd Scarbrough, Geo. Nich. 
Hack, Richd Bayly, Tho. Welburn, Bennitt Scarbrough, l 
Geo. Parker, Robt. Hutchinson, Edwd Moore, Robt. Pitt, 
Jno. Watts, Southey Littleton. 

Escheator — Edmd Scarbrough. 

Coroners — Edmd Scarbrough; Tho. Welburne. 

County Clerk — Jno. Wasburne. 

Surveyor — Edmd Scarbrough. v 

NORTHAMPTON COUNTY 

Acres of land— 102,099. 

Tithables— 693. 

Burgesses — Wm. Waters, Jno. Powell. 

Justices of the Peace — Jno. Robins, Phill. ffisher, Obed: 
Johnson, Nath: Littleton, Wm. Waters, Jno. Custis, junr., 
Ralph Piggott, Wm. Harmanson, Jno. Powell, Jacob Robin- 
son, Tho: Savage, Geo. Harmanson, Littleton Robinson. 

Escheator — John Custis. 

Coroners — Wm. Waters, Jac. Johnson, Geo. Harmanson. 

County Clerk — Danl Neech. 

Surveyor — Edwd Scarbrough." 



XIV 

The Early Church on the Eastern Shore. Puritan 

Ministers. Makemie 

Seldom has the influence of offspring upon the parent 
been so great as in the case of Maryland and Virginia. The 
policy of religious freedom, pursued in the foundation of 
the former colony, was a cause, the effects of which spread 
beyond the bounds of Maryland, and exercised great in- 
fluence over the people of adjacent territory, particularly 
over the people of the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The 
various religious doctrines, nurtured by the state policy of 
Baltimore's tolerant government, spread with insidious 
certainty among the cosmopolitan ranks of the Eastern Shore 
population, where the Puritans of New England and New 
Netherlands in their seeming acquiescence in the established 
faith were fast undermining the hold of Episcopacy. Up- 
held by the law during the seventeenth century, it was not 
until a later date, when the state as well as the church had 
been honey-combed by free-thinkers, that the old structure 
fell and that the masses, who had long supported the religion 
of a minority, asserted their doctrinal independence. As we 
follow the history of the Eastern Shore, we find the Puritan 
from New England and New Netherlands, the Quaker, and 
the Presbyterian, each in turn seeking the shores of the 
remote peninsula as a nesting place, where unmolested the 
new sects might hatch out their doctrines. The effect upon 
the people of such a process of religious incubation among 

250 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 251 

them, cannot be overestimated, and as we take up the history 
of the peninsula in the following century, we shall see how 
the Baptist and the Methodist also prospered upon those 
shores. The effect of religious liberty on the peninsula while 
the other Virginians were bound hand and foot by the author- 
ities of the established church, was to heighten the differences 
of character, already very striking, between the Eastern and 
the Western Shoreman of Virginia — dissimilarities which 
have continued, well defined, through two and a half centuries 
to the present day. 

The first settlers, however, were naturally of the estab- 
lished faith. By established faith, as the expression is here 
used, is meant that outlined and sanctioned by the laws of 
the Virginia Company, and of which the first exponent in 
Virginia was the good Parson Hunt, " whose heart was in 
the business," of propagating and maintaining the fear and 
love of God among the heathen. By those who first made 
the effort to colonize Virginia, the diffusion of Christianity 
among the people of the New World was held forth as one 
of the objects of the enterprise, but while such a laudable 
object may have encouraged a few of the early adventurers, 
gold and treasure was the real incentive which led to the 
attempt. As early as 1588, Sir Walter Raleigh donated 
one hundred pounds, "for the propagation of the Christian 
Religion in Virginia." 1 

When the charter was granted to the Virginia Company, 
in 1606, the King instructed his adventurous subjects "that 
all persons should kindly treat the savage and heathen people 
in those parts, and use all proper means to draw them to the 
true service and knowledge of God." 2 The charter itself 

a Burk's History of Virginia, Vol. I, p. 66. 
"Ibid, p. 91. 



252 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

assigns as one of the reasons of the grant, that the contem- 
plated undertaking was "a work which may, by providence 
of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the glory of his divine 
majesty, in propagating of Christian Religion to such people 
as yet live in darkness and miserable ignorance of the true 
knowledge and worship of God." 1 

Up to the time of Lord De la Warr's arrival on June 10, 
1610, when he found the starving remnants of the colonists, 
already embarked, in the determination to desert Virginia 
and the sickly banks of the James, Parson Hunt had been 
the only minister in the Colony. With De la Warr came 
Chaplain Bucke. 

In 1609, the Company in England had obtained from the 
King a new charter, by which the form of government was 
materially altered. Such was the fear of popery, that it 
was declared in the new charter that no person should pass 
into Virginia, but such as should first have taken the oath 
of supremacy. 2 

Prior to the time of the change in government, when a 
Governor was appointed in place of the Council and Presi- 
dent, the colonists had been left to their own sense of piety 
as being sufficient to prompt them to a proper care of their 
institutions of religion, and no form of religion had been 
prescribed for them, other than that the exercise of Christ- 
ianity in the New World should conform to the rites, cere- 
monies and doctrines of the Church of England. 

From the time of the granting of the new charter, however, 
religion began to form one of the subjects of Company 
legislation. 3 The arrival of Sir Thomas Dale, to succeed 

'1st Charter, Hazard's State Papers, p. 51. Hawk's Ecclesiasti- 
cal History, Etc., p. 19. 

2 2nd Charter, Hazard's State Papers, p. 72. 
3 Hawk's Ecclesiastical History, p. 23. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 253 

De la Warr as Governor on May 10, 1611, marks the period 
at which penal laws were first introduced to aid the con- 
science and in the support of the institution of religion, laws 
which were as martial in tone as those generally provided 
by the new governor. 1 

We have seen how, in 1614, Sir Thomas Dale sent the 
first salt-boilers to the Eastern Shore and established Dale's 
Gift. If any church was built at Dale's Gift or any preacher 
dwelt at this remote settlement, there is no record of the fact. 
Indeed, in the list of settlers at "Accomack" in February, 
1623, the name of a minister does not appear, although we 
know that the Rev. Robert Bolton had been assigned to the 
Eastern Shore before November, 1623. 

In the records of the London Company is found the follow- 
ing minute: 

"Upon the Right Honourable Earl of Southampton's 
recommendations of Mr. Bolton, minister, for his honesty 
and sufficiency in learning, and to undertake the care and 
charge of the ministry, the company have been pleased to 
entertain him for their minister in some vacant place in 
Virginia." 

Mr. Bolton came to Virginia with Governor Wyatt, in 
October, 1621, and was first assigned to Elizabeth City, where 
he preached about two years. He is supposed to have re- 
mained on the Eastern Shore from about 1623 to 1625 and 
then became rector of the church at James City. Bolton 
was a highly cultured man and is supposed to have been the 
Robert Bolton who took the degree of A. B. at Oxford in 
1609. 2 His salary while on the Eastern Shore was fixed 

'For full text of these Church laws, see Hawk's Ecc. Hist., p. 27. 
2 Va. Colonial Clergy, Neill, p. 8. The English Colonization of 
America, pp. 321-322. 



254 EASTEEN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

by order of his patron, the Governor, who sent Captain 
William Epes, Commander of the Plantation of Accomack, 
an order, in November, 1623, requiring him to collect for 
the minister's salary, ten pounds of tobacco and one bushel 
of corn from every planter and tradesman above the age of 
sixteen and alive at the gathering of the crops, throughout all 
the plantations on the Eastern Shore. 1 Such provision for 
the minister seems very insignificant in the light of modern 
times, but the clergymen who first came to the colony were 
as a rule fired with the spirit of the missionary and ven- 
tured forth into the wilderness of Virginia in the hope of 
saving souls and not with the prospect of financial gain. 
There are many worthy men to-day, carrying the word of 
God to the heathen, who receive salary even less than that 
awarded Mr. Bolton. Taking pity upon the rector, and 
desiring to render his lot more agreeable, Mr. Thomas 
Burdetj "principal merchant and devout Churchman," be- 
queathed the good Bolton in 1630, "a firkin of butter, a 
bushel of salt, six pounds of candles, a pound of pepper, a 
pound of ginger, two bushels of meal, a rundlet of ink, six 
quires of paper, and a pair of silk stockings." Judging from 
the items of this bequest, the testator evidently desired not 
only to stock the minister's larder, but to encourage him in 
the writing of sermons. 

Exactly when the first church on the Eastern Shore was 
built, is not known. As there is no mention of a church in 
the census of 1624, but reference is made to a fort, it is 
probable that the handful of settlers met within the palisade 
to offer up their thanks to God. 

An early chronicle describes the first church as, "a build- 
ing of insignificant dimension, constructed of roughly piled 

WIS. in Congressional Library. Neill's Va. Carolorum, p. 407. 
Colonial Churches, p. 288. 



EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 255 

logs, cemented loosely with wattle; the whole enclosed by 
Pallysadoes for protection against ye Indian tribe, an ever 
present menace to peace and safety." This simple edifice 
was located near the "Fishing Point" at the mouth of Old 
Plantation Creek, and was built probably soon after Bolton's 
arrival. A second church was built in the course of the next 
few years, and it too was but a rude log structure, more 
spacious, however, than the first. The new church was called 
the "Magothy Bay Church." Proof of its existence in 1645 
is found in an early county record, which ordered that all 
citizens should carry "arms and fixed ammunition." Such 
as were caught without these were to be "punished" by being 
required "to clear the paths to the new church," "enclosed by 
a stockade." There seems to have been no legal title to the 
ground upon which this church was erected, prior to 1691, 
for in that year William Willett conveyed in consideration 
of 20,000 pounds of -tobacco, 600 acres of land to William 
Baker, reserving "one acre of land, on which church now 
stands," "to remane for .that use as long as the parish mindes 
to continue the same." 1 This land had been granted by 
Francis Morrison, Governor of Virginia, to Edward Douglas, 
and was confirmed by another patent by Governor Andros 
"to me, William Willett," nephew and heir to Edward 
Douglas. 

The second minister, of whom we have any knowledge, 
was the Rev. William Cotton, from Bunbury, Cheshire, Eng- 
land. Cotton was minister when the monthly court was 
formed in 1632. On July 10, 1637, he patented 350 acres 
of land between the Horns of Hungar's Creek and adjoin- 
ing the tract of Captain William Stone; 100 acres due for 

'Book of Deeds and Wills, Northampton County Records, No. 12, 
p. 198. 



256 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

the personal adventure of himself and his wife, Ann Graves, 
and 250 acres for the transportation of five persons, Eleaner 
Hill, Eichard Hill, Edward Esson, and Domingo and Samso, 
negroes. 1 A deed on record at Northampton Courthouse 
shows that his mother, Joane, remained at Bunbury, after 
which place Cotton named his Plantation in Accomack. 

The name Cotton, by association with the Cottons and 
Mathers of New England, has an exceedingly Puritanical 
aspect. There is nothing in the records to substantiate a 
belief that Cotton was not, just as he should have been, an 
enthusiastic Anglican. Yet, when we recall that his daughter 
married Governor Stone of Maryland, and remember the 
character of his successors, we are prone to entertain a doubt. 
His whole career on the Eastern Shore smacks of New Eng- 
land, for his character was that of a stern Puritan, whether 
he adhered to the tenets of the established church or to those 
of the new sect. 

It is not likely that one of Cotton's disposition, stern, 
dogmatic, with the spirit of compromise foreign to his 
nature, would tolerate a Puritan like Stone on his vestry, 
nor permit his daughter Verlinda to marry Stone if he, 
Cotton, were an Anglican. 

The first formally organized vestry was in obedience to 
an order of the Court at James City as shown by the 
following : 

"At a court hoi den in Accawmacke the 14th day of Septem- 
ber, 1635. 
"At this court Mr. Wm. Cotton, minister, presented an 
order of the court for James Citty, for the building of a 
parsonage ordered by the vestry and because there have here- 

^a. Land Abstracts, Va. Mag. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. II, p. 95, 
et seq. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 257 

tofore been no formal vestry, nor vestrymen appointed, we 

have from this present day appointed to be vestrymen those 

whose names are underwritten: 

William Cotton, Minister William Andrews 

Captain Thomas Graves John Wilkins 

Obeydeyence Robins Alex'r Mount] oy 

John Howe Edward Drew 

William Stone William Berriman 

William Burdette Stephen Charlton. 

"And further we do order that the first meeting of the syd 
vestrymen shall be upon the feast day of St. Mychael the 
Arck Angell, being the 29th day of September, 1635." 

In accordance with this order the vestry met, Mr. Charlton 
and Mr. Wilkins being absent. The order for the parsonage 
was duly considered and it was provided by the vestry that 
it should be constructed of wood "on the Glybe land by 
Christyde next, & that the syed house shall be forty foot 
longe & eighteen foot wyde, an nyne foot to the wall plates ; 
and that there shall be a chimney at each end of the house, 
& upon each side of the chimneys a room, the one for a study, 
the other for a buttery; alsoe a partition neere the midst 
of the house with an entry and tow doors, the one to goe into 
the Kitchinge, the other into the Chamber." 

As Mr. Cotton had not yet acquired his lands at the Horns, 
and was officiating at the "Magothy Bay Church" and the 
"Fishing Point Church," it is probable that the glebe lands 
at this time were near Old Plantation Creek in spite of the 
fact that the immediate site of the Magothy Bay Church was 
not owned by the Parish. 

The early churchmen of the peninsula were quite strict, 
for on May 22, 1635, when the vestry held its second meet- 
ing, an absentee was fined 20 shillings for his delinquency. 
At this meeting a pulpit cloth, cushion and carpet were 



258 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

ordered to be provided, and also a bier in case of emergency. 
In consequence of the great distance which some of the 
people lived from the church, the land of William Blous, 
south of Old Plantation, where William Benjamin resided, 
was designated as the burial ground for the inhabitants in 
that part of the county. 

The minister's fee for delivering a funeral sermon was 
fixed at 100 pounds of tobacco, and in order to secure the 
services of the clergyman at funerals, it was provided that 
the vestry clerk must be notified and means of transportation 
supplied to the minister, in default of which a heavy fine 
was imposed. 

The minister's salary was fixed by the court at so many 
pounds of corn and tobacco, payable annually, and propor- 
tioned among the tithables. Delinquents were required to 
contribute double their original share. Mr. Cotton was not 
a popular clergyman, and was continually forced to appeal 
to the court in order to collect his tithes, until, in 1638, the 
church-wardens were empowered to distrain upon the prop- 
erty of defaulters. In 1634, Henry Charlton, one of 
Cotton's flock and a member of a distinguished family, was 
ordered by the court to build himself a set of stocks and sit 
in them several Sabbaths in succession during divine service, 
for slandering the minister. In 1638, upon the complaint 
of Cotton, one John, for committing fornication, was ordered 
to establish a ferry on Old Plantation Creek, and others for 
the same offense were "set up by the heels in the stock." 
Such records illustrate the character of these early 
churchmen. 

Cotton died in 1640, leaving a widow who consoled herself 
by marrying Thomas Burdett, son of the vestryman and a 
gentleman of no mean fortune. Let us hope that he was a 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 259 

more peaceful and satisfactory consort than his predecessor. 
They later moved to Charles County, Maryland, with 
William Stone; and in 1658, Ann, for the second time a 
widow, was living at Nanjemie, with her daughter Verlinda 
Cotton, who married the Governor. 

Cotton's successor was John Rozier, a popular and efficient 
rector. One of his parishioners referred to him in his will 
as "deare and respected friend," and John Holloway, a 
physician, bequeathed to him a Greek Testament. The new 
minister seems to have had no great difficulty in collecting 
his tithes and winning the support of the parishioners for 
the church. In 1643, William Burdett left by his will five 
pounds sterling to the lower parish for the purchase of a 
Communion Cup and Plate. 

While we are uncertain about Cotton's inclinations, we 
have every reason to believe that Rozier was more or less 
of a non-conformist and more acceptable to the Puritans, 
who comprised so large an element in the population of the 
peninsula at this time. 

We have seen that in 1642, the dissenters of Virginia 
had sent to England for pastors, who at first were permitted 
to spread their doctrines among the colonists, and it is 
possible that Rozier slipped into the ministry of Hungar's 
Parish, before steps were taken by the Assembly in 1643 
to oust non-conformist preachers from the colony. 1 Mather 
and Winthrop both tell us that while the state silenced the 
dissenting ministers by Acts of Assembly and by proclama- 
tions of the intolerant Berkeley, yet they were enthu- 
siastically received by the people, who, since their liberal 
pastors were forbidden to preach in the parish churches, held 
services in their homes. 

l Hening, Vol. I, p. 277. 



260 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

The presence of large numbers of Puritans in Virginia 
was undoubtedly known throughout New England, and in 
1639-40, when the Assembly made an allowance from the 
tithes, of ten pounds of tobacco per poll, to enable the 
minister to hire a vestry clerk and sexton, we are told that 
Nathaniel Eaton, first principal of Harvard College, became 
the incumbent of the new office on the Eastern Shore. 1 

In 1639, Nathaniel Eaton, who had been master of the 
college, or school, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, was ousted 
from his office by the authorities. It seems that he and his 
wife made themselves most objectionable and that he had 
been guilty of certain irregularities for which he was con- 
vented and censured by the General Court at Boston. 2 For 
other flagrant offenses, the church at Cambridge took a hand 
in the proceedings, but before it could deal with him the 
wily Eaton fled to Pascataquack, to which place he was 
pursued by the Governor and apprehended. Eaton had 
already placed his effects upon Captain Neale's Bark, bound 
for Virginia, and received permission from the Governor to 
go aboard the ship, with three guards, to get his belongings. 
In a most dexterous manner, he left two of the guards upon 
the shore, threw the other overboard, escaped to the ship in 
a small boat and set sail for Virginia. The bird having 
flown, his cage and other property was sold to satisfy credi- 
tors and soon afterwards he was excommunicated by the 
New England Church. 3 The whole affair as related by 
Winthrop is very interesting. 

Weill's Va. Carolorum, p. 407. Colonial Churches, Howard, p. 291. 
New England Genealogical Register, Vol. XL, p. 294. 

*Winthrop's Narrative, Vol. II, p. 308. Quincey's History of Harvard 
Universitv, Vol. I, pp. 13-14. 268, 451-462. Winthrop's History of 
New England, Vol. I, p. 317. Vol. II, p. 476. 

"Winthrop's Narrative, Vol. II, pp. 312-313. 



EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 261 

Eaton was about thirty years old when lie left Cambridge. 
He seems to have left his termagant of a wife behind, for steps 
were taken in Cambridge to provide for her support, in spite 
of her unpopularity. Exactly when Eaton arrived in Acco- 
mac is not known, but soon after his flight from New England 
he appears as Parish Clerk, and assistant to Mr. Rozier in 
his ministerial duties. His career in Northampton was a 
checqnered one and soon brought him into conflict with his 
superior. A board of arbitrators composed of Nathaniel 
Littleton, Obedience Robins, John Neale and John Gookin, 
was appointed to settle the dispute. On March 23, 1642-3, 
the arbitrators decided that Rozier should pay 600 pounds 
of tobacco to Eaton, and that the vestry should make good the 
payment to the minister. There is also record of a suit 
brought by John Cougan in January, 1646-7, against the 
estate of Nathaniel Eaton, who had left the County. In 
the former case, the disputatious Eaton seems to have had 
right on his side. 

Winthrop tells us that after Eaton went to Virginia, he 
sent for his wife and children, who embarked in a vessel 
that was lost during the passage south, and Dr. Neill says 
that he later married the only daughter of Thomas Graves 
of Northampton, who had moved to Virginia from Dor- 
chester, Massachusetts, and died leaving his daughter a fair 
patrimony. 1 It is also said by the former authority that 
Eaton became a drunken preacher while in Virginia. As to 
this, the records of Northampton are silent, and other than 
the fact that he became involved in numerous suits, little is 
known of his career there. The authorities are quite general, 
however, in the assertion that he fled from Virginia to Eng- 

*Ne\v England Genealogical Register, Vol. XL, p. 291. Colonial 
Churches. Howard, p. 291. 



18 



262 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

land in 1646, deserting his new wife, who, says Neil), was 
the Ann Eaton who later married Francis Doughty. The 
cause of his flight is not mentioned, but it is probable that 
the Massachusetts authorities made it too warm for him on 
this side of the Atlantic. In view of his character he could 
at best have been but an undesirable acquisition to Hungar's 
Parish. As to his subsequent career in England, nothing 
is known except what Cotton Mather tells us. Mather says 
that after being excommunicated by the church at Cam- 
bridge, he went to Virginia, then to England, where he lived 
privately until the restoration of King Charles II. "Then 
conforming to the ceremonies of the church of England, he 
was fixed at Biddiford, where he became (as Apostata est 
Osor sui Ordinis) a bitter ^persecutor of the Christians, that 
kept faithful to the way of worship, from which he was 
himself an apostate, until he who had cast so many into 
prison for conscience, was himself cast into prison for debt; 
where he did, at length, pay one debt, namely, that unto 
nature, by death." 1 For a full account of Eaton's career in 
Cambridge and the troubles which led to his dismissal from 
Harvard and excommunication from the church, all of 
which is most interesting, the reader must consult the 
authorities cited below. 2 

The author at first was seriously inclined to question the 
statement that Nathaniel Eaton of Hungar's Parish was the 
Nathaniel Eaton of Cambridge fame. The fact that 
Theophilus Eaton, afterwards Governor of New Haven, was 
the brother of the refugee, and that he was engaged in mak- 
ing settlements about Plymouth and Quinepiack, Connecti- 

'Cotton Mather's Magnalia, Vol. II, p. 8. 

•Quincey's History of Harvard University, Vol. I, pp. 13, 14, 268, 
451-462. Winthrop's History of New England and Winthrop's Journal, 
citations as given before. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 263 

cut, about the time of the latter's flight, seemed to indicate 
that Accomac (Plymouth) in Massachusetts, and Accomac 
in Virginia had been confounded. 1 It would have been 
most natural for Nathaniel Eaton to seek protection at the 
hands of his influential brother. Then again, another 
minister, William Cotton, married Ajin Graves, whom he 
transported to the colony with himself. 2 It is possible that 
the two ministers have been confounded. The only Thomas 
Graves of the Eastern Shore of whom there is any record 
was a subscriber under the Second Charter of the Virginia 
Company, coming to the colony in 1608. Smith refers to 
him as an ancient planter, and recounts how he was captured 
by the Indians and released at the instance of Ensign 
Thomas Savage. This Thomas Graves represented Smyth's 
Hundred in the first Virginia Assembly, held in 1619, 3 and 
later appears as a Burgess from Accomac in 1629, 4 where 
he was a member of the first court in 1632 and of the vestry 
in 1635. It is not likely that this Thomas Graves was at 
one time a citizen of Dorchester. There may have been two 
persons of the name, for after much research the author 
feels assured that Nathaniel Eaton of Cambridge was but 
one of many New Englanders who migrated to the Eastern 
Shore between 1630 and 1640. 5 

During the ministry of Mr. Rozier, the County was not 
only renamed, but was divided into two parishes by Act of 
Assembly of March 18, 1642 : 6 

'Winthrop's History of New England, Vol. I, p. 317; Vol. II, p. 476. 

2 Va. Land Abstracts ; see appendix. 

'Colonial Register, Stanard, p. 52. Source: "A manuscript copy 
of the Journal of this session is in the Public Record Office, London, 
and lias been frequently published." 

4 Hening, Vol. I, p. 147-149. 

5 See chapter on Origin of People. 

6 Hening, Vol. I, p. 249. 



264 EASTERN" SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

"Be it enacted and confirmed upon consideration had of 
the large extenl of the County North'ton and the gnat in- 
convenience for the inhabitants to be all of the one parish 
that the said county shall be divided into two parishes, the 
bounds of one to be from the eastermost side of King's Creek 
towards the uttermost extent of land towards Smith's Island 
including all the land between the Bay of Chesapeake and 
the seaboard side. 

"And another parish, from the northward side of King's 
Creek to Nuswattocks including all the lands between the 
said Bay of Chesapeake and the seaboard side." 

The origin of the name Himgar's has been undetermined. 
It has been said that a parish in Northamptonshire, England, 
bore a similar name, and as the name first appears on the 
Eastern Shore about the time the name of the County was 
changed to Northampton, the origin may thus be explained. 

Soon after the division of the county and the two parishes, 
a church was erected for the upper parish. This building 
stood for some years, for on December 23, 1684, Major 
William Spencer gave to the church wardens of Hungar's 
Parish the land on Hungar's Creek, on which the "frame of 
a church" then stood, and one acre of land surrounding it, 
being a part of ''Smith's Field." This church, like the 
Magothy Bay Church, seems to have been erected on land 
to which, for many years after the building of the church, 
no title was secured by the vestry. 

Rozier was the minister of Hungar's Parish for about 
seven years. What became of him we do not know, but it 
is likely that the good man moved to Maryland, for the only 
recurrence of the name Rozier in the early colonial records 
of the various colonies is that of Colonel Benjamin Rozier, 
who married a step-daughter of- Charles Calvert and became 
an officer under the Maryland government. As Charles Cal- 



EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 265 

vert resided at one time in Northampton County, Colonel 
Benjamin Rozier was in all probability kin to the former 
minister of Hungar's Parish. 1 

Rozier was succeeded by John Armourier, of whom we 
know practically nothing. The next minister was Thomas 
Palmer, who did much for the advancement of the church 
and never failed to present the wicked for the careful con- 
sideration of the stern though just magistrate, Colonel 
Robins. Palmer was succeeded by Thomas Higby, a clergy- 
man of questionable character, for, in 1652, he was himself 
presented to the court for slandering the Colonel. Higby 
married Grace, the widow of John Wilkins, and died in 
1662. His widow survived him twenty years. He was 
dismissed from his office probably as a result of his loose 
tongue, for at a Court of Vestry held in Northampton on 
June 16, 1662, Edmund Scarburgh, Thomas Johnson, 
Richard Vaughan, Ralph Barlow, Robert Parker, John 
Edwards. Richard Hill, John Ellis, William Taylor, Richard 
Smyth. Richard Tegg, vestrymen, and Mr. Thomas Teackle, 
minister, were present. 2 The same day, Benjamin Matthews 
and John Wise having been chosen church wardens, took the 
regular oath of office, which was administered in the name 
of "the keepers of the liberty of England, by authority of 
Parliament." 

In 1652, the upper parish of Northampton County was 
itself divided, at the instance of the royalists or Anglicans, 
who were little in favor with the people of the lower pen- 
insula, and who themselves were intolerant of the liberal 
views which had crept into Hungar's Parish. 3 

^English Colonies in America in the 17th Century, Osgood, Vol. II, 
p. 72. 

2 The name Teackle is also spelt Teakle and Teagle in the old records. 

"Hening, Act of Assembly, Nov. 25, 1652. See chapter on Common- 
wealth. 



266 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

"It is ordered by the authority aforesaid that the south 
side of Ocquahannock Creeke and so upwards be a peculiar 
parish, and called by the name of Ocquahannock Parish." 1 
But the name Occahannock never came into general use, for 
the parish to the north of Occahannock Creek was called, 
from then on, Accomac Parish, and continued to be so called 
until it in turn was divided by law in 1762, when the lower 
parish which included Pungoteague was named St. George 
Parish. Accomac and St. George Parish were then divided 
"by a line to begin at the mouth of Parker's Creek, thence 
to run up the said Creek to the head of Rooty Branch, and 
thence by a direct line to be run to the head of the branch 
called Drummond's New Mill Branch, thence down the said 
Branch to the mouth of Hunting Creek. 2 From the above 
it will be seen that the limits of Accomac Parish, as estab- 
lished in 1652, corresponded exactly with those of Accomac 
County, formed in 1662. There is no doubt that the causes 
which led to the formation of the upper county entered into 
the creation of Accomac Parish and that the name of the 
Parish influenced the naming of the County. 3 

Many of the early parishioners of the Eastern Shore were 
godly and righteous men. Their wills, which teem with 
pious utterances, bespeak a God-fearing, sober people. Many 
of them did not wait until the hour of parting from this 
world was near at hand to provide material support for the 
church, for the parish property was largely contributed by 
the better class of the planters. The land known to this day 
as the Glebe land, situated on Church Neck, to which 
reference has been made in a preceding chapter, was left to 

l Hening, Vol. I, p. 374. 
2 Act of Assembly 1762. 
s Sce chapter on Formation of Accomac County. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 267 

Hungar's Parish by Stephen Charlton, one of the first 
vestrymen. After some expressions, showing that he had 
just views of the Saviour, he divided his property by his 
will, equally between his wife and two daughters, Bridget 
and Elizabeth, and directed that his children should be 
placed under guardians until they were fourteen years old 
and be educated in a godly manner. Should Bridget, the 
elder, die without children, her share was to revert to the 
church for the support of a minister. Bridget married Mr. 
Foxcroft, a worthy man, and until his death a vestryman of 
the church. They both lived to a good old age, and dying 
childless, the father's will was complied with. The Glebe, 
consisting of fifteen or sixteen hundred acres of the best 
land in the county, remained in possession of the vestry for 
about two hundred years, when, as the result of a long- 
drawn-out suit maintained by the overseers of the poor, in 
which appeal after appeal was taken, the parish was robbed 
of the property on a technicality of the law. Bridget Charl- 
ton's sister Elizabeth, while at school on the Eastern Shore, 
and but twelve years of age, was persuaded by a Mr. Getter- 
ings to elope with him. Being unable to secure a license on 
that side of the bay, they crossed to the western shore, and 
by some artifice succeeded in evading the law and were 
married. 1 Elizabeth soon died, and Getterings sought to 
recover the Glebe lands for himself. This was the beginning 
of the suit. Colonel Scarburgh, upon being appealed to as 
counsel for the vestry, prepared an address, in writing, which 
he submitted to the court, setting forth the iniquity of the 
conduct of Mr. Getterings and ably presenting the inherent 
right of man to dispose of his property according to his own 
will. 

a Meade's Old Churches, etc. It is not certain that the marriage 
occurred on the Western Shore. See Bruce's Social Life of Va. in the 
17th Century, p. 233. 



268 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

By the will of Richard Yaughan, proved before a court 
held at his son's house on Occahannock Creek, April 22, 
1656, all of the testator's slaves were ordered to be freed at 
certain ages, and one thousand pounds of tobacco was be- 
queathed to the parish to start a fund for the building of a 
house "for God's worship." 1 Many such provisions are to 
be found in the wills of these early parishioners. 

The Rev. Thomas Teackle was the first minister of the 
new Occahannock or Accomac Parish, and Mr. Francis 
Doughty succeeded to the two lower parishes. The latter 
gentleman was a son of a Bristol Alderman, and had been 
vicar of Sodbury, Gloucester, where he was arraigned before 
the High Court of Commission for contempt of his sacred 
majesty, having spoken of him in prayer as, "Charles, by 
common election and general consent, King of England." 
This was vile heresy in the eyes of a people still laboring 
under the delusion that Kings ruled by divine right, so 
Doughty was forced to move to America. He first settled 
in New England, but was disappointed in the religious 
freedom which he expected to find among the saints of 
Massachusetts, so moved on to Manhattan, where he became 
minister of the English Reformed Church. Doughty was 
very poor and through the influence of the famous Adrian 
Van der Donck, who had married his daughter, two collec- 
tions were taken for his benefit, to which the Dutch as well 
as the English contributed. Soon, however, he became in- 
volved in difficulties with the Governor, was fined, im- 
prisoned for several days, and finally moved to Flushing, 
where he was guaranteed a salary of six hundred guilders, 
by the people of Staten Island. 2 He did not remain long in 

1 This is probably one of the first instances of manumission. 
2 Breeden Raedt, pp. 24, 25. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 269 

his new berth, for dissatisfied with their preacher, the people 
of Flushing discharged him in 1G56, and he moved to North- 
ampton, where his brother-in-law, William Stone, had lived. 1 
Doughty took with him to Northampton his daughter, the 
widow Van der Donck, who later married Hugh O'Neal of 
Patuxent, Maryland. 2 

Doughty was a non-conformist, pure and simple, and the 
fact that he was employed by Hungar's Parish clearly shows 
the religious tendencies of the people of lower Northampton. 
It is difficult, however, to understand why the ruling class, 
composed of church of England men, allowed him to preach 
there. He certainly had the respect of the better class of 
planters, who were as a rule most intolerant of all "schis- 
matical sects" as illustrated by their persecution of the 
Quakers. Yet there was a great distinction between Quakers 
and non-conformists, there being many of the latter class 
on the peninsula, and while the actual control of the parishes 
was in the hands of Anglicans, the influence and numerical 
strength of the liberal-minded churchmen were too great to 
be entirely disregarded, since they in large measure paid the 
tithes. The presence of the New England Puritans and 
the Reformed Churchmen of Manhattan and Holland had 
greatly liberalized established Episcopacy. These people 
were ever a peaceful, submissive, worthy element of the 
population, regarding themselves, in a measure, as guests in 
a foreign land, and by their very acquiescence in the support 
of the Anglican faith intruded their liberal views upon the 
ruling class more successfully than could have been accom- 
plished by force. Nothing is more certain than the fact that 

'Doughty married Stone's sister while they both lived in Massa- 
chusetts. 

"Neill's English Colonization of America, p. 237. Brodhead's History 
of New York, pp. 333, 367, 368, 411, 419, 472, 555, 615, 666. 



270 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

there were no churches in the County at this time except 
those established by law, yet we find the "Reverend and very 
learned Mr. Samuel Drisius or Van Driesen, Minister of 
the Gospel," from Manhattan, another Reformed Church- 
man, preaching in Northampton in 1654, while visiting 
Virginia as a treaty .Commissioner of the Dutch. It is 
possible, however, that Drisius was only permitted to preach 
in order that he might allay the fears of the inhabitants with 
respect to the reported combination of the Dutch and Indians 
for the purpose of massacring the Accomackians. Governor 
Bennett, a Puritan himself, was on the peninsula at the 
time, and his license to Drisius would have been law. 
Doughty was later succeeded in Flushing by Drisius, and 
now we find the latter preceding him in Hungar's Parish. 1 
What a little world this was even in the seventeenth century. 
The facts above cited, however, only indicate how intimate 
was the connection between the Eastern Shore, New Nether- 
lands and New England, at this time. 

On June 8, 1657, Doughty issued the following notice 
which further illustrates the character of the man : 

"To all Xtian (Christian) people to whome this present 
writinge shall come 

"Know yee that whereas there is a marriage to bee had 
and solemnized between me ffrancis Doughty of North- 
ampton County, in Virginia & Ann Eaton of ye same County 
and yt the sd ffrancis Doughty maye by virtue of marriage 
have or exped to have a right or interest in her estate due 
disowne and discharge all right, to her estate, and to her 
children." 2 

J For full facts as to Samuel Drisius, see Brodhead's History of New 
York. Annals of Albany, Munsell, Vol. IV, p. 71; Vol. VII, p. 93. 
O'Callaghan's History of New Netherlands, Vol. II, pp. 23C-7. 

2 This was the widow of Nathaniel Eaton. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 271 

The fact that the good Doughty took to wife Ann Eaton, 
said to be the widow of the departed Nathaniel, is strong 
evidence of the fact that she was a second wife of the refugee 
and not the one who proved so repugnant to the authorities 
of Harvard and Cambridge. It is quite certain that the 
widower Doughty would not have assumed the role of 
Petruehio with a Katherine so fiery. 1 

Ann Southey, the wife of Nathaniel Littleton of Nandua, 
and the mother of Colonel Southey Littleton, who inherited 
his father's estate, died in 1656. At the time of her death 
she resided on a plantation along Magothy Bay in North- 
ampton County. In her will she requested: 

"Mr. Francis Doughty, minister and preacher of ye word 
in ye Parish, to councell my children, not only in the manage- 
ment of their estates, and in civill behavior in ye world, but 
be a means to instruct them in the feare of God & service of 
the Almighty and Creator, and in ye true faith in Jesus 
Christ, into whose hands I commit in common, all our Soules 
when it pleaseth him to take them from us out of this sinful 
life to wch I say Amen and Amen." 

Here indeed is a valuable testimonial of the respect in 
which Doughty was held, all the more trustworthy since it 
comes from the hand of one of the foremost women of the 
Eastern Shore. After leaving Hungar's Parish, Doughty 
was appointed to the ministry of Settingbourne Parish and 
among the records of Essex County there is the complaint 
of John Catlett and Humphrey Boothe to Governor Berkeley, 
that he was a non-conformist and that "he denied the 
supremacy of the King, contrary to the canons of the 
Church of England," and refused to allow them "to com- 
municate in the blessed ordinance of the Lord's Supper." 

^uincey's Hist, of Harvard Univ., Vol. I, pp. 13-14. 



272 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

From this we sec that he had not undergone a change of faith 
while in Northampton and continued in his unorthodox 
sriews. He is next found in Maryland, where he was met at 
Patuxent by the commissioners from Manhattan in 1659. 
He was at this time living with his daughter. 1 

In March, 1661, it was enacted by the Assembly, in view 
of the great inconvenience of providing general laws to cover 
small matters of purely local interest, that henceforth the 
counties and parishes of the Colony should have the power 
to make their own by-laws. 2 This was a wise provision and 
enabled the County Courts and Vestries to provide for local 
necessity in a speedy and satisfactory manner. The privilege 
was soon abused, however, and led to much trouble in North- 
ampton County as shown by the list of Grievances in 1676. 

The fourth church on the peninsula was St. George's of 
Pungoteague, built between" 1652 and 1660, or soon after 
the formation of Accomac Parish. The first rector of this 
church was the Rev. Thomas Teackle, whose name first 
appears in the records about 1652. Teackle either pur- 
chased or was given land on Cradock's Neck, where he lived 
upon his estate called "Cradock," as minister of St. George's 
for nearly forty years. He was an Anglican of the strictest 
order, an able preacher, a man of great culture and refine- 
ment and. judging from the scope of his very large and 
complete library, he must have been something of a student 
as well. In 1664, Major John Robins brought suit against 
Mary Powell for scandalous speeches against Mr. Teackle; 
and she was ordered to receive twenty lashes across her bare 
shoulders and was banished from the county. For many 
years the good man was a noted character in Accomac. His 

^rodhead's Hist, of N. Y., p. 666. 
'Hening, Vol. II, pp. 171-172. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 273 

church was irreverently though not irrelevantly styled "Ace 
of Clubs" church on account of its peculiar shape, there 
being three almost equal wings with the interior angles 
rounded. It is possible that the name was suggested to the 
Puritans of the lower peninsula by the character of the con- 
gregation, which was composed almost entirely of Anglicans. 
The people of Hungar's Parish resented the formation of 
Accomac Parish from the first, and the royalists were ever 
regarded by the lower classes as free and easy churchmen. 
This old church remained intact until pressed into service 
as a stable by Colonel Lockwood of the United States Army 
in 1861-5. The two side wings were then demolished and 
the interior generally altered. It was repaired some years 
after the war but unfortunately not restored to its original 
state. How strange that the conqueror should always feel 
obliged to destroy the temples of his enemy ! There were 
unquestionably other buildings available for a stable. 

The author has frequently heard that the first communion 
set of St. George's church was presented by the immigrant, 
John Wise, though there is no record to that effect. 

Soon after Teackle's arrival in Accomac, Colonel Edmund 
Scarburgh charged him, in May, 1656, with being too 
familiar with Madam Scarburgh, and with trying to dis- 
pose of him by poison. The rector was immediately sus- 
pended from his office and demanded an investigation. On 
two different occasions the parties were summoned to appear 
before the justices, Teackle presenting himself with his wit- 
nesses both times. On neither occasion, however, did the 
fiery Scarburgh appear. Then Teackle appealed to the 
General Court at James City, but Scarburgh eluded the 
third appointment. Satisfied by such conduct on the ac- 
cuser's part, as to their clergyman's innocence, his parish- 



-; 1 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

ionors petitioned the court to have him re-instated, which 
was promptly done. Thereupon, Scarburgh withdrew the 
charge of undue intimacy between the minister and his wife, 
but persisted in the charge that Teackle had attempted to 
poison him. The records of this old suit are as interesting 
as they are voluminous. 

When Governor Berkeley, always quick to detect irregu- 
larities in church affairs, and to guard against the insidious 
encroachments of the free thinkers, fled to the Eastern Shore 
in 1G76, he discovered that Mr. Daniel Richardson, an un- 
ordained preacher, was ministering to the parishioners of 
Northampton. While the term unorthodox was applied to 
any divine who preached without orders, the vestry, no doubt, 
felt that their action in retaining Mr. Richardson required 
an explanation, and it is not hard to read, between the lines, 
that this gentleman did not measure up to Berkeley's stand- 
ard of Episcopacy: 

"Whereas Mr. Daniel Richardson o'r late minister, for 
want of orders, was found not orthodox, and therefore hired 
him from yeare to yeare (to supply the place of minister 
so far as the Lawes of England and this Country could make 
him capable) until wee would supply ourselves with an able, 
orthodox divine. And forasmuch as Mr. Isaac Key did 
present, whom we find very able and worthy wee of the 
vestry & subscribers hereof doe certifye unto your Honor 
that at a Vestry the 8th Day of May last past did discharge 
the said Richardson from his said ministry as may fully 
appear by an order of the said vestry there made, And have 
since made choyce of the said Mr. Isaac Key for o'r minister 
who hath accepted, and most willingly promised to serve, 
Wherefore wee hereby request yor Honor's confirmacon by 
Inducting him into this o'r parish as minister, And yor 
supplycants shall ever pray. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 275 

John Stringer John Robins 

William Kendall James Pio-ot." 

William Waters 

To which Governor Berkeley assents in these words : 
"This worthy learned Gent. Mr. Key is soe well knowne to 
me, that I am most certaine you will be happy in havinge 
soe deservinge a person to officiate to you & advise and 
comfort you in all yor spirituall wants and necessityes, and 
I do hereby require that he be immediately Inducted. 

"William Berkeley. 

"Nov. 18, 1676." 

The ousted Richardson moved to Maryland, and was 
living there in Somerset County in 1680. Mr. Key assumed 
the ministry of the two parishes in Northampton. Teackle 
was still the minister of St. George's in 1689, for in that 
year he received 2,000 pounds of tobacco from the vestry 
for arrears in salary. 

During the incumbency of Teackle and Key, the spiritual 
welfare of the Eastern Shore was committed to Anglicans 
of the strictest order, and we may rest assured that dissenters 
and non-conformists found in them relentless opponents. 
Much was done by these two clergymen to restore the ob- 
servance of the established forms of worship and to counter- 
act the effects of years of what they deemed a religious 
laxity verging upon license. 

By 1684, as we have seen, the church erected on Smith's 
Field was but a frame, a skeleton of a church, and the parish 
of Nassawattocks was practically defunct; the people of 
the upper peninsula attending St. George's at Pungoteague, 
while those of the lower peninsula attended the Magothy 
Bay Church. Successive churches were erected on the site 
of the latter, exactly how many is not known. They were 
poor structures, however, and of very temporary character 



276 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

with the exception of the last, which was in use as late as 
the nineteenth century. Tn 1826, it was pronounced unsafe, 
torn down, and the old materials sold at auction. Its 
foundations, near the gate of Aldington, were to be seen 
until recent years, hut the plowshare of modern progress has 
passed over the old ruin, casting the dust of its mouldering 
stones to the winds. 

One of the frame structures on this site was used by the 
people of Northampton until about 1690. The following 
year a petition was made to the Assembly to unite the two 
parishes of Northampton, on the ground that they were 
unable, singly or combined, to give such support as would 
secure an able minister and build a good church. The peti- 
tion having been granted, N"assawattocks Parish was merged 
into Hungar's Parish -, 1 

"Att a council held att James City, Apr. the 21st, 1691. 

Present 

"The Rt. Hono'ble Francis Nicholson, Esq., Lt. Gov. & 
Council. Major John Robins and Mr. Thomas Harman- 
son, Burgesses of the County of Northampton, on behalf of 
the County, by their petition setting forth that the said 
county is one of the smallest in the Colony, doth consist of 
a small number of tithables, and is divided into two parishes, 
by reason whereof the Inhabitants of both parishes are soe 
burdened that they are not able decently to maintain a 
minister in each parish and therefore prayed the said 
parishes might be joyned in one and goe by the name of 
Hungars Parish, not being desirous to infringe any gift 
given to Hungars parish, and more especially one by the 
last will of Stephen Charlton, which parishes soe joined 
will not only be satisfactory to the inhabitants but make 
them capable to build a decent church and maintain an 
able divine; On consideration thereof Itt is the opinion of 

'Act of Assembly. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 277 

this board and accordingly ordered that the whole county of 
Northampton be from hence-forth one parish and goe by the 
name of Hungars Parish, and that the same shall be no prej- 
udice to the gift of the aforesaid Charlton to the said 
parish of Hungars and it is further ordered that the 
inhabitants of the sd parish shall meet at such time and 
place as the court of the said county shall appoint and 
make choice of a vestry according to law. 

"Cop. vera, test. W. Edward, cl. cou." 
"Then in accordance with the appointment of the court, 
at a meeting of the inhabitants of the said county of North- 
ampton, at the courthouse thereof the 22nd day of June, 
1691, the following vestrymen were elected: 

Major John Robins Capt. Custis 

Capt. Foxcroft John Shepheard 

Benj. Stratton J- Priece Davis 
Benjamin Nottingham John Powell 

Jacob Johnson Thomas Eyre 

John Stoakley Michael Dickson." 

It was evidently soon after this step was taken that the 
new vestry met and provided for the erection of the present 
Hungar's Church. Surrounded and concealed by a body 
of sweet-scented pine woods, in the midst of a picturesque 
grove of Sycamores, about seven miles north of Eastville, 
stands this ancient house of worship, near the site of its 
rustic predecessor. This church as it now exists at the head 
of navigation on Hungar's Creek near Bridgetown, is one 
of the oldest churches in Virginia. The original edifice 
became untenable in 1850 and was repaired and slightly 
reduced in size that year. It is beautifully situated, and 
but little known outside of the Eastern Shore Counties. 

The year after the consolidation of the Northampton 
parishes, Mr. John Monroe became the minister of Hungar's 
Church. He is referred to frequently in the convocations 
of the Williamsburg ministers of the time. 

19 



278 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

The plate presented to Old Hungar's Church by Governor 
Nicholson is now in use in Christ Church, Eastville. It 
is inscribed: 

Ex dono Francis Nicholson. 

The communion set used in the latter church was pre- 
sented to Hungar's Church by John Custis, of Williams- 
burg and Arlington, in 1741. 

Active in the affairs of the Episcopal Church on the 
Eastern Shore in the seventeenth century were members of 
the Scarburgh, Robins, Wise, Littleton, Bowman, West, 
Cropper, Charlton, Foxcroft, Severn, Eyre, Custis, Yeardley, 
Bayly, Kendall, Parker, Upshur, Vaughan, Bowdoin, Not- 
tingham, Savage, Joynes, Poulson, Spady, Browne, Satchell 
and many other ancient families, the descendants of which 
are scattered broadcast over the United States until but few 
remain to worship in the temples of their fathers. 

On many a time-stained monument, the history of these 
early Episcopalians may still be read, for it was a custom 
among Virginians of the seventeenth century, and even at 
a later time, to bury their dead near the home of the de- 
ceased and frequently in the immediate close of the dwelling. 
Ancient tombstones peep from behind their shrouds of 
honeysuckle, or from among a tangle of rose bushes, growing 
in wild luxuriance and sending forth a delicious fragrance, 
a sweet invitation to the casual passer-by to pause and 
ponder upon the history of the past. And as one lingers in 
such deserted spots and scans these memorials of departed 
spirits, the venerable relics testify to an age of romantic 
interest upon this balmy peninsula. Sweet voices of the 
past, we pause and barken to your words: 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 279 



WARWICK, OR QUINBY S FARM" 

In Northampton County. 

In memory of Arthur Upshur 

born in ye County of Essex in ye 

Kingdom of England who died 

January 26, 1709 in ye 85th year 

of his age. 

In memory of Mary ye 

Wife of Arthur Upshur 

born in ye County of Warwick 

in ye Kingdom of England 

who died July ye 3d 1703 

in ye 85th year of her age. 



ii 
arlington 

(Arms) 

Here lies the Body of 

John Custis, Esq., one of the 

Councill and Major Generall of 

Virginia who departed this life ye 

29th day of January 1696 aged 66 years. 

And by his side a son and daughter 

Of his Grandson John Custis whom 

He had by the daughter of 

Daniel Parke, Esq., Capt. Generall 

And Chief Governor of the Leeward 

Islands. 

Vistus Post Funera. 



280 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 



in 



WILSONIA NECK 



Here lyeth ye body of John Custis, Esq., one of the 
councill of Virginia colonel, and commander in chief of the 
Militia on the Eastern Shore of this colony. He was the 
son of Hon. John Custis of Arlington, and departed this 
life 26th of January, 1713, and in the sixtieth year of his 
age. His first wife was Margarett, ye daughter of Mr. John 
Michaell, by whom he had seven sons and two daughters, 
who with three of their sons lies near him. His second 
wife was Sarah, the daughter of Colonel Southy Littleton, 
and widow of Mr. Adam Michaell, who survives him, but 
hopes to be buried by him when she dies, as was his desire. 
Which accordingly now she is, and departed this life the 
18th day of April, Anno. Domino, 1720, and in the fifty 
first year of her age. 



IV 
"POULSON PLACE" 

(At Onancock) 

Coll. Tully Robinson 

late of Accomack Co., Va. who was 

born August 31st, 1658, and 

departed November 12, 1723, 

aged 65 years and twenty 

days. 
A gentleman honourable, an 
Ornament to all places. He 

was loyal to his prince, 

Unshaken to his friend, and 

a true believer in the Church 

of England. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 281 

The remains of the Yeardley tombs are now all but 
imperceptible in the grounds of the Nottingham home in 
Northampton, and at Bowman's Folly, Clifton, Mount 
Custis, Brownsville, and many other family seats of Accomac 
and Northampton are to be found those of the Croppers, 
Wises, Baylys, Upshurs, and other prominent and ancient 
families. 

And now, having followed Episcopacy to the end of the 
seventeenth century, let us go back and view the humble 
origin of Presbyterianism in America, with its first roots on 
the remote and secluded shores of Accomac. 

The father of the Presbyterian Church in America was 
Francis Makemie, of Ireland and Accomac. He was born 
near Rathmelton, County Donegal, Ireland, during the 
seventeenth century, but the exact date of the event is un- 
known. The place where he was educated is also involved 
in uncertainty, but he is thought to have attended one of the 
Scotch universities. During the year 1680, Judge William 
Stevens, who was a member of Lord Baltimore's council, is 
said to have written to the Irish Presbytery of Leggan, 
urging that ministers be sent to Maryland and Virginia. 
The year following, Makemie was licensed to come, but went 
first to Barbadoes, where he preached. About the year 1684, 
he arrived in Somerset County, Maryland, on the Eastern 
Shore, and here at Rehoboth, it is claimed, established the 
first regular Presbyterian Church in this country. Later on, 
Makemie moved down the peninsula into Accomac County, 
and settled at Onancock, which place had been established 
under the law of 1680 for the promotion of town building. 
At Onancock, he married Naomi Anderson, the daughter of 
"William Anderson, a wealthy merchant. Through his 
marriage, Makemie acquired property, and was engaged 



282 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

himself in trade with the West Indies, a trade which was 
actively carried on at that period between those Islands and 
the Eastern Shore. Makemie was upon one occasion arrested 
by ministers of the established church for preaching without 
a license, and carried to Williamsburg, where he pleaded his 
own case before the Governor and Burgesses. This he did 
so successfully that the Governor licensed his dwelling in 
Onancock as a place of worship, and gave him, much to the 
displeasure of the Episcopal clergy, the general right to 
preach anywhere in the colony. It was not long before 
Makemie had won a substantial following from the ranks of 
the Episcopalians, and we may rest assured that the good 
Teackle viewed the desertions of his parishioners with the 
utmost impatience and alarm. The established clergy, how- 
ever, were unable to uproot the new faith from the soil of 
Accomac and Northampton ; and so powerful were the argu- 
ments of Makemie that the Act of Toleration, passed April 
16, 1699, was directly attributed to the influence of this 
great divine. 

During the year 1707 while passing through New York, 
en route to Boston, Makemie again became involved in trouble 
for the offense of preaching without a license, and was im- 
prisoned for two months, but was acquitted at his trial. He 
published a "Narrative" of the affair which is to be found 
in Force's Collection of Historical Tracts. Governor Corn- 
bury, who had him arrested, does not appear to have enter- 
tained a high regard for the parson, for he wrote in a letter 
to the Lords of Trade that Makemie was "a preacher, a 
doctor of physic, a merchant, an attorney, a counsellor at 
law, and, what is worst of all, a disturber of governments." 1 

*Note — Among the published writings of Makemie were: "Truths 
in a New Light," "Letter to Lord Cornbury," and "A Plain and Friendly 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 283 

Makemie is reported to have been a deeply pious man, 
and a shrewd trader as well. He possessed an excellent Law 
Library, and in addition was distinguished fon what a 
modern lawyer terms "the proper spirit of litigation." His 
will is recorded in the County Court of Accomac, as he 
died in that County during the summer of 1708. A spot 
on the banks of Holston Creek, near Jenkins' Bridge in 
Accomac County, is pointed out as the place where he was 
buried. No stone marks his burial place and the exact 
locality is a matter of conjecture. A most interesting book,, 
concerning the old Scotch-Irish preacher, was published a 
few years ago by the Kev. L. P. Bowen. It is entitled "The 
Days of Makemie," and unites the charms of romance with 
the carefully compiled knowledge of a painstaking and ac- 
curate historian. It is a valuable contribution to the early 
history of the sea-girt peninsula, about which Gath has 
written : 

"And when we thread in quaint intrigue 
Onancock Creek and Pungoteague, 
The world and wars behind us stop. 
On God's frontiers we seem to be 
As at Rehoboth wharf we drop, 
And see the kirk of Makemie ; 
The first he was to teach the creed, 
The rugged Scotch will ne'er revoke ; 
His slaves he made to work and read, 
No powers Episcopal to heed, 
That held the glebes on Pocomoke." 

Perswasive to the Inhabitants of Virginia and Maryland." The reprint 
of the last named writing is to be found in Volume IV of The Virginia 
Magazine of History and Biography. Every student of the early history 
of Virginia, and of the Eastern Shore in particular, should read this 
remarkable paper, for being written with a knowledge acquired by 
residence on the peninsula, it gives a valuable insight into the times in 
which the famous author lived, and the conditions which influenced his 
arguments. 



284 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

It is stated, upon competent authority, that there is but one 
volume of this work extant — that in the Library of Harvard University, 
from which the above reprint was copied. Two letters of Makemie, 
written to Increase Mather in 1684 and 1685, are in the possession of 
the Massachusetts Historical Society. 

Notes: For much of the foregoing sketch the author is indebted to 
the late Barton Haxall Wise. Some years ago Mr. Wise presented to 
the Virginia Historical Society a transcript of the Makemie Manuscript, 
which had come into his possession. 

For a full sketch of Mackemie, see Foote's Sketches. 



XV 

The Negro and the Slave 

It is a generally accepted fact that the Dutch were 
responsible for the introduction of slaves into Virginia in 
1619. It was several years later before the first negro 
appeared on the Eastern Shore, and a decade had elapsed 
before slaves were brought to the peninsula. The first 
negroes in Accomac of whom we have any knowledge, were 
two free citizens of color, Anthony Johnson and his wife 
Mary. They were so highly thought of by the white in- 
habitants of the county, that, when, in 1652, they had the 
"misfortune to lose by fire after great service & etc.," after 
dwelling as law-abiding citizens in the county for over thirty 
years, they were exempted from paying taxes. While no 
negroes are mentioned in the census of 1623, the Johnsons 
must have lived there at the time. The descendants of these 
free negroes were for many years respected property owners 
and owned in addition to much land, a number of slaves. 
In 1654, 100 acres of land lying along Pungoteague Creek, 
were granted to Richard Johnson, the son of Anthony, the 
former being a carpenter by trade and a skilled mechanic. 
This tract was contiguous to the estate of John Johnson, also 
a negro, and that of Anthony Johnson. Later, a dispute 
arose as to the title to the land and we find the following 
entry: "Whereas John Johnson, Negro, hath this day made 
complaint in Court that John Johnson, Sr., detaineth a 
patent to 450 acres, which John Johnson, Jr., claims, John 

285 



286 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

Johnson, Sr., is ordered to appear in Court." 1 Anthony 
Johnson entered suit soon after this for the purpose of 
recovering his negro servant, who had been appropriated by 
Robert Parker. 2 

Leases for ninety-nine years to negroes were not un- 
common in the seventeenth century. John Parker of Ac- 
comac leased to Philip Morgan, a negro, 200 acres about 
1680. 3 

The first slaves of which mention is made in the old 
records, were the two West Indian negroes, named Sampso 
and Domingo, servants of the Rev. William Cotton, who 
came to the peninsula about 1632. Four years later, John 
Wilkins, Gent., brought one to Accomac with twenty-five 
white servants. 

The first sale of a slave occurred in 1640, when Nathaniel 
Littleton sold one to Garrett Andrews for 1,200 pounds of 
tobacco. Littleton and his father-in-law, Mr. Southey, 
owned thirteen slaves at this time. 

Prior to 1656, there were but few slaves on the Eastern 
Shore; in fact there were but few in the Colony. The 
census of 1624-5, shows but 22 Africans. In 1649, there 
were not over 300, in spite of the fact that a company had 
been organized at great expense eighteen years before for 
carrying on the slave traffic; and during the year 1649 but 
seventeen negroes were imported into the Colony, a large 
majority, by one planter in Gloucester County. Between 
1649 and 1659, the importation of slaves was very light, 
the greatest number imported in one body being the thirty 
negroes bought by Colonel Scarburgh in Manhattan for his 
daughters, Matilda and Tabitha. 

'Northampton County Records, Vol. 1651-1654, p. 200. 

2 Accomac County Records, Vol. 1663-1666, p. 54, and 1682-97, p. 160. 

3 Accomac County Records, Vol. 1676-90, p. 185. 



EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 287 

The slaves on the Eastern Shore in the seventeenth cen- 
tury were well taken care of and kindly treated. They were 
used almost exclusively as domestic servants, for the day 
of working great bands of negroes in the fields had not yet 
arrived. In 1647, Francis Pott had two negroes bound to 
his service for a term of years and obligated himself to 
furnish them sufficient meat, drink, apparel and comfortable 
lodging and to use his best efforts to bring them up in the 
fear of God and in the knowledge of the Saviour. These 
little slaves were bought from Immanuel Driggs, a free 
negro servant. 

The slaves were not allowed to have any business dealings 
with the whites for fear that they would be taken advantage 
of and that they would be encouraged to steal the property 
of their masters. Hence we find, in 1643, upon the request 
of William Andrews, the court ordering that no man should 
"truck nor trade" with his negro John, and again in 1654 
upon the complaint of Captain Francis Pott, people were 
forbidden to trade with his negroes. 

Many of the masters taught their slaves to read and write 
and the custom of instructing them in the Bible and making 
them attend church was general. In his will, dated 1645, 
Mr. Grace Vaughan of Occahannock, actually provided for 
the manumission of his slaves at suitable ages and left them 
each a tract of land. 1 This is probably one of the first in- 
stances of manumission. The inventories of the estate of 
William Burdett and Major Peter Walker, dated 1644 and 
1655, respectively, included several negroes bound for short 
terms of servitude, showing that they were to be freed. 

By the end of the century, there were many free negroes 
on the peninsula who not only owned land, but could read 

1 Will proven April 22nd, 1656. Northampton County Eecords. 



288 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

and write and were allowed to vote. 1 They do not seem to 
have been very thrifty as a rule, though there were striking 
exceptions, then as now. An instance of a negro surety is 
to be found in the records of Northampton. 2 Most of the 
free negroes in the county, like the surviving Indians, 
became a charge upon the whites in their old age and such 
failure on their part to provide for the winter of life is 
striking evidence of their lack of thrift. It was claimed 
by the people of Northampton that free negroes were un- 
desirable, because they commonly became receivers of goods 
stolen either by the slaves or the white servants. 3 

The value of slaves on the Eastern Shore at this time 
may be arrived at from the fact that, when the master of the 
"Society," a Bristol ship, which went ashore oif the coast 
of Accomac, came to reward the persons who had assisted 
him in landing the negroes he had on board, he paid James 
Lamont thirty pounds sterling in the form of a boy and a girl, 
and this price very nearly corresponds with that paid by 
Littleton to Andrews at the first sale, before mentioned. 4 

In the list of tithables for Northampton in 1666, the 
names of 52 negroes appear. Allowing Accomac County an 
equal number, and applying the same ratio of tithables to 
souls, as in the case of the whites, there must have been 
upwards of 300 negroes on the peninsula at that time, or 
about one to every ten white persons. A great increase in 
the number of blacks began about 1690. 

The county records indicate that Indian slaves were owned 
by Eastern Shoremen, but they were no doubt half-breeds 
with the negro blood largely preponderant. 

'Northampton County Records, Vol. 1689-98, p. 250. 
Northampton County Records, Vol. 1689-98, p. 58. 
'Northampton County Records, Vol. 1689-98, p. 463. 
'Calendar of Virginia State Papers, Vol. I, p. 30 (Bruce). 



XVI 

Trade. Commerce. Industries 

The houses on the Eastern Shore with a few exceptions, 
such as Arlington and Bowman's Folly, have never been 
as spacious and as pretentious as those in other parts of 
the state. The smallness of some of the houses inhabited 
by the wealthiest citizens is amazing. For instance, the 
house of Southey Littleton of Accomac contained a parlor, 
a porch chamber, a hall chamber, a hall, two garrets, a little 
room over the kitchen, the kitchen, the dairy room ; making 
in all but a small house. 1 The residence of Argoll Yeardley, 
of Northampton, was equally small, containing a hall, a 
hall chamber, a parlor, two small chambers next to the 
parlor, a kitchen and a dairy, both of the latter probably 
detached. 2 These houses, no doubt, were typical of the time. 
Most of the house-building seems to have been done by the 
ship-carpenters and no doubt the structures had a decidedly 
nautical cast about them. There are to-day many old houses 
on the Eastern Shore which resemble the pictures of Noah's 
Ark, and give plentiful evidence of the character of the 
builders. 

There being no stone, and but little clay out of which to 
make bricks, the people of the peninsula were forced to 
content themselves with the abundant supply of pine at hand 
for building purposes. Even tombstones had to be imported 

Accomac County Records, Vol. 1676-90, p. 293. 
'Northampton County Records, Vol. 1654-55, p. 117. 

289 



290 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

from England or the Western Shore. Simple frame dwell- 
ings sufficed to house these primitive country people in a 
tempered clime, where the land afforded every inducement 
to out-door occupation, and the early Eastern Shoremen 
should not be judged by the character of their dwellings. 
Their energies were not directed to house-building, which 
fact in no wise diminished their happiness. With vessels 
coming from the West Indies, bringing goodly supplies of 
Jamaica Rum, with excellent peach brandy ; with salt water 
creeks about them abounding in the finest terrapin, crabs, 
clams, and oysters in the world, the Eastern Shoremen 
recked little of the outside world, and were a contented, 
happy people. Despite the mild climate and other condi- 
tions which conduced to laissez-faire, the people were yet 
more thrifty, shrewd and progressive than the people in 
other sections of the colony, for the slaves were never so 
numerous as to deprive the peninsula of a class of hardy 
yeomen. 1 

Bricks were unquestionably made on the peninsula in 
the seventeenth century, but only in small quantities. James 
Ewell of. Pimgoteague, contracted to burn thirty thousand 
for a new courthouse in 1677, and it appears that brick- 
making was his regular employment. In April, of the same 
year, the Ketch, Grocer's Adventure, of Hull, England, 
arrived at Chesconessex, "having a great many bricks to 
unload," as we are informed by the records, and this is one 
of the few instances in which there is fairly trustworthy 
proof of the importation of brick into the Colony. It is 
even possible in this case that the bricks were transported 

J Life of Henry A. Wise, Barton Haxall Wise. 



EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 291 

to the peninsula from another part of Virginia, where the 
ship had previously touched. 1 

In the early days, travel was exclusively on foot or in 
canoes, as the first horse did not appear until about 1642. 
Of course there were no roads until a later period. The 
hard-beaten paths through the shady pine woods and along 
the shores of the creeks, very much as they are to-day, com- 
prised the sole overland thoroughfares. About 1646, when 
horses were beginning to appear in large numbers, bridges 
were constructed across the creeks, near the headwaters of 
navigation. Prior to that time, crude scows ferried the 
pedestrian on his way. A ferry is mentioned in 1634. In 
1638, Mr. Symmonds, first surveyor, was mentioned. 

During Scarburgh's term of office as County Surveyor, 
much attention was paid to wharves and roads, and all at 
private expense. In January, 1657, the first order was 
entered for the construction of public roads, and William 
Melling was appointed general surveyor of highways for 
Northampton, "according to the laws of England." From 
that time on, various orders were issued and assessments 
levied for county or public roads, which, in general, followed 
the routes of the present bay-side and sea-side thorough- 
fares. 2 Bridges were built across the Pocomoke River before 
1680. 3 

Intercommunication between the various parts of the pen- 
insula was carried on largely by means of boats, the smaller 
variety being patterned after the native canoe. The white 

l Accomac County Records, Vol. 1678-82, pp. 65, 66. Bruce's Institu- 
tional History of Va., etc., Vol. I, p. 538. 

2 Accomack County Records, Orders of April 21st, 1663. Northamp- 
ton County Records, Orders of March 23, 1663. 

Proceedings of Council of Maryland, 1647-16S0. 



292 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

men soon learned to build these little craft out of the ex- 
cellent lumber which the peninsula afforded and supple- 
mented the Indian paddle with a spread of canvas. The 
present-day "Kun-ner," as it is pronounced by the Eastern 
Shoremen, sharp at both ends, low in the water, of extremely 
light draft and rakish rig, is but an early development of 
the Indian canoe, upon which the settlers depended so largely 
for transportation. The boat, so extensively employed now 
and called the "dead-rise bateau," is a type of a later period. 
The "bug-eye" or freight craft, peculiar to the Eastern 
Shore of Virginia and Maryland, is after all but an immense 
canoe, decked over and schooner rigged. As every early 
settler was forced to "paddle his own canoe," he became an 
adept sailor. Knowledge of the tides, the signs of weather, 
and things nautical, became matters of second nature with 
him, for those who dwelt farthest from the coast were at 
most but a short walk from the nearest creek. 

One of the first vessels of Accomack was owned by William 
Burdett and Daniel Cugley in 1634, and employed in the 
Indian trade and in freighting tobacco. In 1645, the "Bless- 
ings of Virginia" is mentioned as having brought goods 
from Holland. In January, 1652, Colonel Scarburgh, who 
was preparing to leave the county indefinitely, sold to 
William Bunton of Boston, Massachusetts, a barque of 20 
tons burthen named the "Deliverance" for 50 pounds 
sterling, another one named the "May Flower" with all her 
sails and rigging for 120 pounds short, 1 "a Galiot by the 
name of King David with all things belonging to her for 
180 pounds sterling," and a small shallop for 20 pounds 
sterling. We have seen that he owned numerous other 
vessels, among which were the "Seahorse," the "Hobby 

'Was this the Mayflower of Plymouth fame? 



EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTOEY 293 

Horse," the "Ann Clear" and the ship "Artillery," all ocean- 
going vessels, it is doubtful if any other citizen in Virginia 
and in fact in any of the colonies owned as many vessels at 
one time in the seventeenth century. Seven large merchant 
vessels engaged in trading along the coast, to the West Indies 
and to Holland, speak well for the enterprise of the many- 
sided Colonel. 

As early as 1640, the difficulty of securing transporta- 
tion led many of the larger planters to unite in building 
freight craft in which to export their tobacco. Therefore, 
we find Scarburgh, Samuel Bayly, John Rice, Stephen 
Charlton and other wealthy planters purchasing interests in 
a large vessel that year. 1 

In 1661, the Assembly subsidized ship-building by offer- 
ing to any one who should build a vessel of any burthen 
whatsoever, decked and fitted for sea, fifty pounds of tobacco 
for every ton burthen. 2 

On the first day of March, 1641, the first mill was con- 
tracted for between Obedience Robins and John Wilkins 
on the one part and Anthony Lenny, Millwright, of the 
second part. The price for the wind-mill was to be 220 
pounds sterling and 20 barrels of corn; and Lenny was to 
be furnished with all necessary iron-work and shingles and 
to receive 100 pounds sterling in advance. Wheat and 
flour on the Eastern Shore were first mentioned in June, 
1646, in a bill of Captain Wormeley's. 

The first merchant trader on the Eastern Shore seems to 
have been William Clayborne, who, as early as 1630-1, 
employed his good ship Africa, a vessel of considerable size, 
in trade between his depots in Accomac, on Kent Island, 

^ccomac County Records, 1632-1640, p. 22, Va. State Library. 
2 Hening, I, p. 122. 



20 



294 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

and the Susquehanna River, buying up beaver skins from 
the Indians of the latter place. His trade was not restricted 
to Chesapeake Bay and the Susquehanna, however, for John 
Winthrop, Jr., in a letter to his father, dated April 30, 1631, 
mentions that a contract had been made with Captain Clay- 
borne, then in London, to bring grain to Boston from Vir- 
ginia. "The ship that bringeth it wch is the Africa whereof 
Capt. Claybourne is commander. He and the merchants 
that set him out offer us to bring what corne we will for 
fish." 1 In June, 1646, Clayborne's business affairs with 
George Fletcher, a London merchant, which had become 
much confused during the Kent Island troubles, were finally 
adjusted. 

The following is a statement of Clayborne's claim: 

"Disbursed by the account 12,000 lbs. tobacco for trade of 
Susquehanna & for Isle of Kent in making peace, taking 
possession of it, fortifying & maintaining it, of which Mr. 
Fletcher's letter engages him to bear his share." 

The arbitrators, to whom the dispute was referred, were 
Richard Bennett, afterward Governor of Virginia, and Peter 
Knight of Warrosquack. James Fletcher, of Eltham, 
County Kent, England, was attorney for his brother George, 
the merchant. 

The records show that much trade was carried on between 
Accomack and New England in 1634 and in October, 1638, 
two Accomackians, namely, Nicholas White and one Barnaby, 
made voyages to that coast in their own vessels. In 1645, 
the "Water Duck," of Rotterdam, a large trading vessel, 
touched at Accomack, and Stephen Charlton bought two 
pipes of wine from the Master, besides beds, Holland sheets, 

'Mass. Hist. Soc. Collect., Vol. VIII, p. 31. The fish were Codfish. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 295 

etc., etc. For the wine he paid 22 pounds sterling in tobacco 
at 3 pence per pound. This fact not only establishes the 
relative values of tobacco and sterling money but also the 
value of wine at that time. 

Well before the middle of the century, Scarburgh, Clay- 
borne and others had established trade along the Delaware, 
the Susquehanna, with Manhattan, the West Indies, Holland 
and New England. There is much evidence that Scar- 
burgh's ships had visited points farther up the coast than 
Boston, for various invoices show him to have been the owner 
of largo numbers of moose skins at one time or another. 
These skins were used by him in the manufacture of shoes. 
We have seen how at one time he was in partnership with 
General Gibbons of Boston in the business of freighting by 
sea with the ship "Artillery," and how upon the return of 
the former to Northampton he filed complaints against the 
Bostonian, requiring an accounting of him. The following 
is the text of the letter which Gibbons wrote Scarburgh 
upon this occasion, and is interesting because it establishes 
the relation between these two distinguished men: 

"Boston the 9th of ye fifth moneth 1654. 

"Sir — I hearinge of yr arrivall, though I heare you are 
offended with mee yet at this distance I crave Libertye to 
kis yor hand & desire god to take possession of yr heart & 
bid you a welcome to gether: Sr I shall saye nothinge for 
the present But about Strangridge who spitts fowlely & un- 
justlye agst mee, as you can testifie, For you made upp our 
Accotts by our consente and subscribed it. And he owed 
mee neare Two hundred pounde and would make you paye 
agayne, what I paid him for you ; Sr good ice not very 
plentifull here. I say no more, but am 

"Yor friend (though poor), 

"Edwakd Gibons." 



296 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

Poor old Gibbons ! He too had become entangled with the 
Colonel. A very quaint letter is this from the Captain who 
led the expedition from Boston against d'Aunay at Port 
Royal, in the interest of La Tour. 1 General Gibbons was at 
one time offered a high office in the Government of Mary- 
land by Baltimore, and there is much evidence that he was 
in n 1 id about the Chesapeake on numerous occasions. 2 

Large numbers of Dutch merchants resided on the Eastern 
Shore, or visited it at frequent intervals about this time. 
Entered in the records of Northampton County is a power 
of attorney from Jacob Derrickson and Abram Johnson, of 
Holland, to John Johnson, to serve as their factor both in 
Maryland and on the Eastern Shore. There is also an 
agreement between the Master of the Farewell, from 
Amsterdam, on the one part, and John Johnson and John 
Makule, both of Graft, of the other part, that the vessel 
then (1652) lying at Accomac should go to Holland to load. 

So extensive was the Dutch trade that even the passage 
of the stringent Navigation Act, in 1666, did not succeed in 
destroying it. A temporary loss only, was sustained, for 
the people and the merchants soon resorted to illicit trading 
and smuggling was prevalent for the remainder of the cen- 
tury. The English Government had previously (in 1650 
and 1651) endeavored to restrain all trade between the 
colonies and foreign countries, and against this the Dutch 
had remonstrated in vain. This restraint was one of the 
causes which, as we have seen, led to the first Dutch war. 
When Virginia surrendered to the Commissioners of Parlia- 
ment, it was stipulated that she should have the full enjoy- 
ment of a free trade with other countries ; and the mer- 

MDsgood's English Colonies in 17th Cent. Vol. I, pp. 411-412. Hazard's 
Historical Collect. Vol. I, p. 499. 

2 English Colonization of Am. in 17th Cent., p. 284. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 297 

chants of the peninsula complained bitterly against the acts 
of Parliament by which it was sought to regulate commerce. 
The case of Walter Chiles which arose at this time has been 
referred to in a previous chapter. The Navigation Act, 
designed to protect English manufacturers and merchants by 
prohibiting foreign trading with the colonies, not only 
greatly inconvenienced and worked a hardship upon the 
people of the Eastern Shore, but, had it been observed by 
them, would have caused their utter ruin financially. They 
had grown too dependent upon the great trade which they 
had built up to stand by and see it destroyed by such selfish 
laws as Parliament chose to enact and the new government 
which had at first had many supporters in the ranks of the 
Puritans and Dutch on the peninsula, lost greatly in popu- 
larity. Smuggling grew to be looked upon as a necessity, 
and every influence was present to encourage and support 
the practice. The people felt that they were not half as 
culpable as Parliament and looked upon smuggling as a 
measure of self-protection. The islands of the seaside were 
well adapted to the illicit trade which soon sprang up and 
which was carried on almost as openly as lawful commerce 
had been conducted before the Parliamentary measures came 
into effect. The hardy 'longshoremen, at home on the sea, 
were experts in the "island trade," as it came to be known, 
and no magistrate nor revenue officer might hope to outwit 
them. The nature of the coast was such that it would have 
required a whole British fleet to break the practice up. 

As soon as the Dutch vessels had ceased to arrive in the 
Colony not only did the price of goods increase, but ship 
owners raised their freight rates. In a short period, the cost 
of transportation had doubled, while the tobacco staple brought 
only one-third of the price it had commanded before the 



298 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

passage of the Navigation Act. What steps the citizens of 
Northampton and the Dutch merchants took to obviate such 
serious results, before the illicit seaside trade was well 
established, have been seen in the chapter on the Common- 
wealth and the Dutch War. 

In the meantime, an act which at first had been one of 
pure courtesy, had come, through long custom, to be looked 
upon by the Governor as a matter of right or law. From 
about the middle of the century it had been the practice of 
all ship captains, touching at Accomack, to leave with the 
revenue collector a present of provisions or wine for the 
Governor, until the contribution became fixed as a charge, 
amounting to about twenty shillings per ship. In 1667, 
Berkeley was forced to remind his collector, Colonel Scar- 
burgh, that "the yearly presentations of wine," due from the 
vessels which had touched at ports on the peninsula, had not 
been received by him. This extra tariff was never looked 
upon with favor by the independent merchants of the Eastern 
Shore, and no doubt the collector himself had done much to 
discourage the practice by appropriating the presentation 
with the knowledge of the donors. Thus, they had come to 
regard the extra burden as more in the nature of Graft than 
Tariff. The distinction is interesting. 

So prosperous had some of the English merchants in the 
colony become by the latter part of the century, that, an 
English wit was led to write, "From being wool hoppers 
and of meaner employment in England, they have in Vir- 
ginia become great merchants and attained the most eminent 
advancement the country affords." 1 And such was the case 
on the Eastern Shore. English merchants had been settled 
there since 1640, some of them being men of the highest 

force's Collection of Historical Tracts, Vol. III. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 299 

standing in the community, as for instance, George Fletcher, 
the associate of Clayborne in opening up the trade of the 
upper Chesapeake, and a number of years later, Thomas 
Wilbourne of York, and Francis Lee of London. 

The first mercantile house on the peninsula was that of 
William Douglas & Company, existing in 1640. This con- 
cern drew the first Bill of Exchange mentioned in the 
records, on a bank in Amsterdam, Holland. 

While the British and Dutch Merchants on the Eastern 
Shore were well received, prosperous, and in turn fair in 
their commercial intercourse with the people, they had their 
troubles and at times lost heavily. In 1688, a petition was 
brought before the Privy Council, in England, in which it 
was affirmed that the estate of Edmund Scarburgh was in- 
debted to the petitioners to an extent exceeding 700 pounds 
sterling. The consideration was large quantities of goods 
shipped from time to time to Scarburgh's plantation, which 
still remained unpaid for. This sum amounted in our 
modern currency perhaps to $17,000.00. 1 

The largest lease of land recorded is that of 3,000 acres 
called "Occahannock," by Colonel Scarburgh in 1652 to 
William Bunton, of Boston, for fourteen years or until his 
son Edmund should come of age, the rental for the whole 
period being about 1,200 pounds sterling. In 1642, Scar- 
burgh bought 500 acres of this land from John Neale for 10 
pounds sterling. 

In 1650, 3,000 weight of sassafras root was shipped to 
England and sold for 20 shillings per hundredweight. A 
large quantity of scrap pewter and brass was also shipped. 
In 1652, seventy-two moose skins were sold by Scarburgh 
to an English merchant at 10 shillings each. 

^rivy Council to Governor Berkeley, British State Papers, Colonial. 
Bruce's Economic Hist, of Va. in 17th Cent. 



300 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

Until the latter part of the century, sterling money was 
used but rarely. Roanoke and Wampumpeake, Indian forms 
of currency, had a legal circulation for many years. 

The Chincoteague, Assateague and Assawaman Indians 
were noted for the manufacture of Roanoke and Peake. 1 
Roanoke was made from cockle-shells wrought into small 
pieces like beads with holes drilled through them. It was of 
dark color and less valuable than peake. The latter was a 
long cylinder, the component pieces also perforated and 
carefully polished. Both species had exact values, reckoned 
sometimes by bulk measure, but more frequently by the 
yard after being strung on gut. These money beads were 
often made into belts and ornaments. The records show 
that Roanoke was very common in Accomac and that it was 
frequently paid out to the Indians for public services per- 
formed by them. 2 It occasionally constituted a part of an 
estate. When Sir Thomas Dale sought the hand of a sister 
of Pocahontas for one of his colonists in 1614, it will be 
remembered that Powhatan informed him that she had been 
sold a few days before to a great Werowance for two bushels 
of Roanoke. 

Beaver pelts were in use from the first as currency among 
the settlers. In 1637, eight pounds of these skins were sold 
for 160 pounds of tobacco. It is thought that beaver, on 
account of the character of the peninsula, never inhabited 
that region in great numbers. At any rate they disappeared 
soon after the white man arrived and the great value 
attached to the pelts in later days was on account of the 
distance they had to be transported. 

'Wampum means shells. Roanoke, Rawrenoke, or Rawanoke means 
place or thing of shells. 

*Accomac County Records, Vol. 1663-66, p. 94, Bruce. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 301 

Tobacco, while used as currency for many years, was a most 
inconventient form of tender, on account of its small bulk 
value. When the warehouses were established, the planters 
received tickets or receipts for the casks which they stored. 
These tobacco tickets were extensively employed as currency 
at one time. 

Towards the end of the century, the people of Virginia 
had begun to cry for bills of exchange and coin, a much 
simpler and therefore a more convenient form of currency 
than beaver, peake, or tobacco. As a substitute for money 
sterling, the lion or dog collar was in general circulation on 
the Eastern Shore. This was perhaps a Dutch coin which 
had obtained a furtive admission into the colony through the 
smugglers of the sea-islands and its presence on the penin- 
sula as late as 1696 was the strongest evidence of the con- 
tinuation of illicit trade. In the course of that year, a 
petition was presented by the planters of Accomac to their 
representatives in the Assembly, asking that a legal value 
be set upon the lion or dog collar, in order that it might be 
used in current business transactions. 1 

For selfish reasons, the Governor and Auditor General 
discouraged the use of money sterling, which led, in the 
autumn of 1697, to a series of proposals for submission to 
the House of Burgesses by prominent citizens of Accomack, 
in which it was emphatically asserted that money sterling 
was the most convenient medium in carrying on trade and 
commerce, and that its absence discouraged men in every 
walk of life, because they were compelled to sell upon credit, 
which frequently terminated in a total loss. For this reason 
it was stated by these practical merchants to be of the highest 
importance that all coins should bear a fixed value. The 

Calendar of Va. State Papers, Vol. I, p. 52. (Bruce.) 



302 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

petitioners, i lien tore, urged their Burgesses to demand that 
the rate be established at which all money, except money 
sterling, should pass on the Virginia exchange. Unless steps 
were taken to establish a uniform rate for the various coins 
in circulation, the petitioners predicted that even such small 
amount as was now in circulation, would soon be drawn to 
provinces where the coins had an ascertained value. 1 Their 
active interest in such economic matters clearly illustrates 
the commercial character of the Eastern Shoreman. The 
suggestion of the Accomack planters seems to have been 
adopted either immediately or in the course of a few years, 
for when Beverley wrote his history, the value of all money 
in use in Virginia had been fixed by law. 2 

A number of the wealthier planters carried on various 
industries and not always on an insignificant scale. Colonel 
Scarburgh built a malt house at Occahannock and seems to 
have met with much success in the enterprise. He also had 
a shoe factory, the business of which was quite extensive. 
As moose skin was largely used in the manufacture of his 
shoes, they must have been of a superior quality. In a com- 
plaint which he entered in the court of Northampton in 
1662, he incidentally mentions that he had nine shoemakers 
in his employ ! He then goes on to tell that he had invested 
much money in the business of tanning leather and manu- 
facturing shoes. It is probable that he contracted with the 
government to supply the public wants in these particulars. 
He petitioned that Nathaniel Bradford, a currier by trade, 
should be punished for his failure to perform the duties, 
which the law imposed upon all who followed that business. 
Bradford was the owner of a tan-house and a shoemaker's 

'Calendar of Va. St. Papers, Vol. I, p. 53. (Bruce.) 
2 Beverley wrote his history in 1705. 



EASTERN SHORE OP VIRGINIA HISTORY 303 

shop, and at the time of his death was in possession of 318 
hides and 46 lasts ! Such competition was not altogether 
according to Scarburgh's liking. 1 

Sheep were raised to some extent on the peninsula, 
probably enough to supply the local demand for wool, for we 
read in the County records that Southey Littleton was the 
owner of a herd of 96, and Peter Wilkins of Northampton, 
owned 36. The various inventories show that sheep and 
goats were owned long before the middle of the century. 
The wool from these sheep was largely manufactured into 
"Virginia cloth" in the homes of the planters, for in 1656, 
the authority was given to Northampton County to pass laws 
to promote and govern its own manufactures, among which 
the woolen industry was of some importance. 2 The inven- 
tory of one William Taylor, of Accomack, who died about 
1690, included thirty-five yards of Virginia Cloth, and John 
Wallop is cited as the owner of looms about the same time. 
Many inventories of the Eastern Shore during the seven- 
teenth century disclose the presence of woolen-wheels, wool- 
cards and looms, so that it is reasonable to infer that much 
cloth was made there during that period. 

The origin of the extensive salt-industry, in which Scar- 
burgh and John Custis took such active parts, has been 
treated in a previous chapter. Let us now look into the 
history of salt-making on the peninsula, after the works 
were removed by Pory in 1621, from Smith's Island. 

The undertaking could not have been placed on a perma- 
nent footing, for, in 1627, William Capps was sent to the 
Colony to make an experiment in the manufacture of bay- 
Northampton County Records, Vol. 1682-97, folio page, 213. 
2 Hening, Vol. I, p. 396. 



304 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

salt as one object of his mission. If he began the experi- 
ment at all, he was soon interrupted by a contention in 
which he became involved, and which ended in his expul- 
sion from the country. 

The General Court at Jamestown, in 1630, passed an 
order, in conformity probably with instructions from Eng- 
land, that the manufacture of salt should again be com- 
menced. 1 This seems to have been done, for the Governor 
and Council shortly afterwards informed the English 
authorities that the colonists, who had hitherto employed 
artificial heat in the production of salt, would soon be using 
an improved apparatus, which would depend upon the heat 
of the sun alone. 2 Harvey indulged in many sanguine 
expressions, when writing upon the subject at this time. 3 
Thirty years after the close of his administration, the 
General Assembly rewarded Mr. Dawen, a citizen of Acco- 
mack, for the specimen of salt which he had procured, by 
requiring the costs of his visit to Jamestown to be defrayed 
out of the general levy. He was also exempted from the 
levy of Accomac. 4 In 1660, the Assembly offered to grant 
ten thousand pounds of tobacco to Colonel Edmund Scar- 
burgh of Northampton if he should succeed in making eight 
hundred bushels of salt. 5 At the following session, still 
more valuable encouragement was extended to him in con- 
sideration of his having erected salt works. He was at this 
time made the beneficiary of the whole amount of revenue 

'Randolph MSS., Vol. II, p. 215. 

2 Royal Hist. MSS. Commission, 4th Report, Appx. pp. 2901. 

3 Gov. Harvey to Dorchester, British State Papers, Colonial, Vol. V, 
p. 83. Sainsbury Abstracts for 1630, p. 213. Va. St. Library. 

"Hening, Vol. II, p. 12. 

6 Ibid, p. 38. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 305 

collected in Northampton County in the settlement of the 
duty of two shillings imposed upon every hogshead of salt 
exported, subject, however, to the condition that he was to 
deliver to persons designated by the Assembly the salt which 
he manufactured, the exchange to be made at the rate of two 
shillings and six pence per bushel. No salt was to be im- 
ported into the County of Northampton after 1663, and if 
the master of a ship, bark, or any smaller craft, disregarded 
the order, he was to suffer the confiscation of his vessel. 1 
Here was true monopoly for those who now so violently 
oppose the trust ! The principle is as old as mankind and 
is not, as some seem to think, the creation of a latter day. 
Protection, as an economic measure, runs with the risk of 
capital and is naturally advocated by those who assume the 
risk and deprecated by those not concerned in the invest- 
ment. 

Anticipating that Colonel Scarburgh might be unable to 
supply, with the output of his own plant, the people of the 
Eastern Shore with salt, the Assembly at a later date granted 
to him the exclusive privilege of importing this article into 
the peninsula, and if he were even then unable to supply 
the demand, the persons who might be unable to secure salt 
from him were to be at liberty to buy on the general market 
but not for the purpose of sale. 2 This monopoly soon proved 
repugnant to health as well as convenience, and the 
privileges granted to Scarburgh, so far as they related to 
Northampton County, were withdrawn and not again 
renewed. 3 There is no evidence that salt was manufactured 
anywhere in Virginia in the seventeenth century except on 

'Ibid, p. 122. 

! Ibid., p. 186. 

3 Ibid., p. 236. It is stated in a General Court entry for 1671, that 
Governor Berkeley encouraged the manufacture of salt in Virginia pre- 
sumably at this time. Robinson Transcripts, p. 258. 



306 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

the Eastern Shore, the waters of the inland bays and estu- 
aries across the bay from the peninsula being less im- 
pregnated with brine than the waters of the open sea. The 
references to the importation of the foreign article became 
more frequent towards the close of the century. This impor- 
tation was never interrupted in the counties on the Western 
Shore, salt being brought in as part of the annual supplies 
consigned to Virginia. 1 

From such facts as we have at our command, it appears, 
that the Eastern Shore excelled other parts of the Colony, 
not only in the development of trade and commerce, but in 
industrial enterprise, as well. Yet in our State Histories we 
find no mention of such a condition on the peninsula. 

'See Bruce's Economic History of Virginia in the 17th Century for 
foregoing facts and authorities on salt making. 



XVII 

Horses. Stock. Game. Fish and Personalty 

The first horse on the peninsula was one conveyed to 
Colonel Argoll Yeardley by George Ludlow of the Western 
Shore, by a bill of sale dated January 30th, 1642. None 
of the many inventories on record, prior to that date, in- 
cludes horses. They prove conclusively, however, that steers 
and oxen were used as beasts of burden in the pioneer days. 
In 1645, Stephen Charlton also owned a horse, and in 
November of that year a consignment of horses arrived from 
New England, many of the animals having died on the 
passage south. The custom of branding stock was begun at 
this time. 

In the inventory of William Burdett's estate in 1642, he 
is shown to have been the owner of 11 oxen, 18 or 20 steers, 
many cows and 22 goats, but no horses are mentioned. In 
the inventory of Major Peter Walker's property, taken in 
1655, 36 ewes, 1 ram, 14 cows, 7 draught oxen with their 
yokes and chains and 2 goats are mentioned, and only 3 
horses. As both of these men were wealthy planters they 
would unquestionably have owned many horses were they 
to be had. 

There is a tradition that the first settlers found droves of 
wild horses in the meadows of Assateague and Chincoteague 
Islands, the parent stock having come from a ship-wrecked 
vessel, but there seems to be no foundation for such a belief. 
Indeed it is highly improbable that such was the case, for 

307 



308 EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

had horses been on those islands, some use of them would 
have been made by the first settlers. When Chincoteague 
Island was first prospected and granted to one of the 
colonists in 1670, by James II, no mention of horses occurs. 
Again, while Colonel Norwood, who was shipwrecked on 
the nearby coast and spent some time in the neighborhood as 
the guest of the hospitable Kickotanke chieftain, mentions 
the presence of large numbers of hogs in the marshes near 
Gingo Teague, he does not mention horses. Colonel Norwood 
passed right by the island in 1649 and would certainly have 
mentioned the wild horses, had they been there at that time. 

It has also been said that the wild ponies which rove in 
great herds over the Accomac island owe their origin to 
horses left there by pirates in the early days, but this too is 
doubtful. Bruce tells us that the number of horses in the 
colony in 1631 was very small, and prior to 1649 references 
in the records of Virginia to horses are exceedingly rare. 
With the design to increase the number of these animals, the 
Quarter Court convening at James City in March, 1639, 
granted Thomas Stegge and Jeremy Blackman the right to 
import them into the colony, 1 and a few years later the 
Assembly passed laws tending to encourage their further 
importation. 2 

In 1649, there were but 300 horses in the colony, but by 
1669 so many had been brought, and the natural increase 
had been so great, that horses had become a burden by reason 
of their unrestrained depredations, in consequence of which 
further importation was prohibited. 3 In 1662, a tax was 
imposed upon horses, and the owners were required to con- 

"Bruce's Economic History of Virginia in 17th Cent., Vol. I, p. 335. 
'Herring, Vol. I, p. 268. 
"Bruce, Vol. I, p. 374-5. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 309 

fine them between July 20th and October 20th. The author 
is inclined to believe that some of the planters of the pen- 
insula, in order to avoid the expense of fencing off the 
marshes on the mainland, transported their stock to the 
nearby islands about this time, and that this is the true 
origin of the Chincoteague pony concerning which so many 
fables have been written. 1 The coarse provender of the salt 
marshes and continual exposure to the elements would 
readily have accounted for their stunted growth, which 
feature had become so marked among the horses in other 
parts of the colony by 1686, that carefully devised laws 
were then enacted to improve the breed. So numerous had 
wild horses grown to be by this time that one of the prin- 
cipal sports of young men in the colony was to hunt them, 
not infrequently with dogs, for all unbranded stock belonged 
to the captor. 2 Prior to 1691, the owner of cultivated land 
was not allowed to injure the horses of his neighbor, however 
much they may have injured his crop and however often 
the same animals may have trespassed ; but during that 
year, a law was passed, the terms of which allowed the 
planter, if protected by a legal pale, to kill horses found for 
the third time committing depredations. So widely dispersed 
were the horses belonging to the same owner, that it was 
often impossible, after his death, to run them together with 
a view to their appraisement. 3 Bruce cites many authorities 
for the statement that it was the custom for a number of 
planters to unite in the confinement of their horses to a neck 
of land, where they might roam at liberty without injuring 

x To the writer's own knowledge, attempts to raise ponies on the sea- 
side islands, from new stock, within the past few years, have proved 
unsuccessful for lack of sufficient food except on Chincoteague Island. 

2 Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 222. 

'Letters of William Fitzhugh (Bruce). 



•ji 



310 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

the growing crops. These horses were periodically driven 
into a pen and the foals branded with the mark of the owner ; 
and in order to prevent any secret encroachments upon the 
rights of others, it was generally required that notice of the 
penning should be posted at the parish church two weeks 
before the drive. 1 Here then is not only a reasonable origin 
for the pony, but the origin of the pony-penning as well ! 
Why look to shipwrecks and pirates ? 

The people of the Eastern Shore have always loved a good 
horse, and have been particularly fond of racing from the 
earliest days, though in the seventeenth century they do not 
seem to have competed much with outsiders. Tn 1674, 
Richard Awburne and Isaac Jacob, both citizens of North- 
ampton County, undertook to run their horses in a race on 
the Western Shore. The stake, formally arranged between 
Awburne and John Panewell, amounted to four hundred 
pounds of tobacco. Not satisfied with this race, Awburne 
and Jacob are found a few days later, running their horses 
in another heat on a track in Northampton. The latter event 
appears to have been a private race, but in a third, in which 
Jacob took part, there were many spectators present, among 
whom were a number of ladies whose interest was doubtless 
as keen as that of the men. The races in Northampton 
were held on ground known as Smith's Field, near the 
church, where a track had been carefully laid off. 2 In these 
same old records there is an allusion to the "Fall Races" 
(1674), as though races were held every year. 3 Let us hope 
that the minister of Hungar's Parish was not president of 
the Jockey Club, as we are told a certain clergyman was" on 
the Western Shore. 4 

Records of The General Court (Bruce). 

"Northampton County Records, Vol. 1664-74, p. 269 (Bruce). 

'Ibid., Vol. 1674-79, p. 4. 

4 See Bishop Meade's Old Churches, etc. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 311 

The number of cattle ranging at large in the salt marshes 
of the peninsula even before 1650 must have been very great, 
for the cattle marks recorded in Northampton County for 
one period cover thirty-six pages in the volume of records 
1651-54. In fact, all over the settled portion of Virginia 
at that time, great herds of cattle roamed almost at will and 
were at times hunted and shot as if wild animals. So wide 
and unrestricted was the range of the cattle in the marshes 
of the Eastern Shore, that much trouble resulted to the 
owners, as only branded stock could be accurately identified. 
Not only cattle and horses roved over the peninsula, but 
droves of hogs, which had become practically wild, were to 
be found feeding upon the fish, crabs and mollusca of the 
salt creeks. 

There seem to have been a great many dogs of mongrel 
breed on the peninsula at this time, whose chief use was in 
destroying the smaller kinds of animals running wild in the 
woods and fields. How valuable they were is shown in a 
case which occurred in Northampton County about 1691. 
A complaint was, in the course of that year, lodged in the 
County Court against Mike Dixon, on the ground that he 
permitted his dogs to rush out and bark at the heels of 
persons passing along the highway, which was situated imme- 
diately in front of his door. Instead of proposing to kill or 
restrain them, Dixon simply petitioned the Court to have 
the public road moved some distance back from his dwelling 
house, "because it was necessary," he declared, "to keep dogs 
for the preservation of his creatures from vermin." 1 The 
creatures he referred to were poultry and young pigs and 
the vermin were wolves, minks, polecats and the like. 

'Northampton County Records. Vol. 1689-98, p. 86 (Bruce). 



312 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

To this day foxes are very plentiful on the peninsula and 
no doubt fox-hunting in a mild form was one of the chief 
sports of the people in early days as it is now. While there 
were no deer, bear, wolves, nor other kinds of wild animals 
left on the peninsula by the end of the century, as late as 
1683 rewards were offered for the destruction of certain of 
these beasts, which must have greatly encouraged the pursuit 
of them, already very exciting from the unusual dangers 
attending it. 

Judging from the various statute books and court records 
of the seventeenth century, slight effort was made to protect 
the fish, oysters, terrapin and wild-fowl, all of which 
abounded in the waters of the Chesapeake and Atlantic 
Ocean, on the Eastern Shore. So lavishly had nature stocked 
these waters with her delicacies, that the supply was regarded 
as unlimited, and as usual no thought of the future was 
entertained until irreparable ravages began to show their 
effects. Thus is the improvidence of man wont to run its 
course and nature's well-nigh boundless stores are all but 
exhausted before human extravagance receives a check. The 
fisheries and oyster industry of the Eastern Shore were 
sources of much wealth in the seventeenth century as now, in 
spite of the fact that protective legislation was not indulged 
in. 

As nothing gives one a better insight into the character 
of a bygone people than a knowledge of their personal be- 
longings, a few items garnered from the ancient inventories 
follow. These old inventories show that the Eastern Shore- 
men were not only comfortably but luxuriously equipped. 

In 1642, the inventory of William Burdett included many 
beds with valences, blankets, sheets, pewter dishes of all 
kinds, and much silverware. There was no crockery in use 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 313 

at the time; all utensils were brass, copper, pewter or plate. 
Major Walker's inventory included (1655) : 6 leather chairs; 
a coverlid of tapestry and many cambric sheets ; 1 broad- 
cloth coat lined with silver lace ; 1 coat of same material for 
riding, lined with lace ; 1 entire suit of broad-cloth ; 1 
broad-cloth short coat lined with silver lace, and doublet and 
hose to match; and 1 stuffed suit of clothes. In addition 
to these articles the inventory included a bird cage, willow 
chairs, and a handsome East India quilt; all beds had 
valences; there were three Dutch chairs in the parlor; 15 
dishes of pewter weighing 60 pounds, 1 silver beer bowl, 
kitchen furniture and utensils similar to those of the present 
day, and a number of books on divinity and history in the 
library. The personalty of William Kendall included, in 
silver plate alone, 27 spoons, 2 dram cups, 2 punch bowls, a 
caudle, and a pair of snuffers. The inventory of the effects 
of Ann Littleton, who died in 1656, shows that she owned a 
great amount of handsome furniture, and that her wardrobe 
was equal, in size and quality, to that of the finest ladies 
of England. In 1647, books are first mentioned in the 
records; a Bible without the Psalms, Dr. Wm. Smith's 
sermons and the "Practise of Piety." In 1650, a Turkish 
History, Stowe's Chronicles and the King's Meditations are 
mentioned. The history, no doubt, was at one time the 
property of the Turkish merchant who resided in the county. 
The records show that books were very generally owned, 
hi many cases the number and variety of the subjects in- 
cluded in a single collection is surprisingly large. The un- 
usual care with which testamentary disposition of books was 
made indicates the high value which the owners attached 
t<> them. 



314 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

About 1693, John Wallop, of Accomac, bequeathed a 
number of books to his son, reserving for his daughter not 
only the family Bible, but two works known by the title 
of the Woman's Councillor and the Countess of Kent's 
Choyce Manualls. In 1643, after leaving to Colonel Jno. 
Tilney all his chirurgical treatises, Dr. John Halloway gave 
his Greek Testament in folio to Rev. John Rosier; his 
catechism to Mr. Philip Taylor; and a volume entitled "The 
Humiliation of Sinne" to Mr. John Fullard. In this col- 
lection there were thirteen works on surgery, written in Latin 
or English, and twenty bearing upon a great variety of sub- 
jects of general interest. Daniel Cugley, Philip Chapman, 
and Dr. John Severne, owned fair collections of books well 
before the middle of the century. Other libraries at this 
time were those of Martin Rennett, William Berryman, 
Henry Pedington, Mrs. James Lemman, George Clark, and 
William Penley. Pedington owned a large number of 
religious works. 

The Rev. Thomas Teackle possessed, perhaps, the choicest 
library in the two counties. To his son, he bequeathed fifty- 
two religious works written in English, and thirty-four 
written in Latin; and to his daughter, sixty similar works 
in English, and thirty-one in Latin. The entire collection 
contained about two hundred and fifty theological works 
and about a hundred volumes, many written in Latin, deal- 
ing with the medical science. Some of the books included in 
this library were Horace, Lucretius, The Picture of a Papist, 
Presbyterian Unmasked, Burton's Anatomy, Civil and 
Military Aphorisms, and Grotius's Laws of War. Among 
the books of Colonel Southey Littleton's collection were 
iEsop's Fables, two works in the Latin language, Dr. Sander- 
son's Sermons, Ye Difference of Sacraments, Body of the 



EASTERN SHOKE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 315 

Common Law, Laws of Virginia, History of the New Eng- 
land War, Doctrine of Triangles, and the London 
Dispensary. 

The collection of Charles Parkes, a gunsmith, contained 
a large number of volumes, including fifteen relating to 
theology and eleven to history. Among these books were 
Speed's Chronicle, and the Travels of Sir Francis Drake. 

Edward Bibbe and William Kendall owned sixteen and 
thirty-two volumes, respectively. George Dewey was also 
the owner of a large collection. John Michael, of North- 
ampton, bequeathed to his "dear & pious brother" all the 
works in his collection written in the Dutch language. 
There were many books of this character in the libraries of 
the Eastern Shore, due to the large number of Dutch resi- 
dents. Lawrence Jacobson alone owned thirteen. 

The collection of Dr. George Nicholas Hacke consisted of 
twenty-two works written in high or low German, fifty-four 
in Latin, and many others in English. 

After reviewing such records, one cannot fail to better 
understand the character of the early Eastern Shoreman 
and the conditions surrounding him. We have found the 
people busily engaged in planting, and in an inter-colonial 
commerce ; far advanced in the industrial arts, such as 
weaving, tanning, shoe-making, malt-brewing, salt-boiling, 
and ship-building, and then we have found them to be well 
housed and clothed, enjoying many of the luxuries of life 
amid ease and plenty. But this is not all. These people 
were not content to loll in the sun and dream away their 
days in idleness. We have examined the libraries, a sure 
sign of the intellectual bent of the owners, and later we shall 
learn with what care and forethought provision was made 
for the education of the children. 



XVIII 
Social Conditions. Customs axd Traditions 

We have already seen that the Eastern Shore was con- 
sidered, as early as 1622, a very healthful region. The 
proximity of large bodies of salt water modified the climate, 
and made this section one of the most wholesome and 
pleasant spots imaginable to the first settlers ; and in the 
early records but three physicians are mentioned, Hallo- 
way, John Seaverne or Severn, and George Nicholas Hacke, 
the latter being a German. These old doctors all supple- 
mented their professional income by planting tobacco and 
engaging in trade, and were frequently put to it to recover 
their medical fees, as evidenced by the numerous suits 
brought by Severn. 

Long continued extremes of heat and cold were unknown 
on the peninsula, for the warm winds of the nearby Gulf 
stream softened the rigors of winter, while the cool sea- 
breezes in the summer made the evenings and nights of the 
hot season delightfully pleasant. To these conditions was 
no doubt due the robust vigor and healthfulness of the early 
settlers, when sanitary conditions were at their worst, and 
people were dying like sheep along the malarial banks of the 
great rivers to the West. The death rate was so small and 
the age to which many of the inhabitants lived so great, that 
an early writer was led to remark: "People on the Eastern 
Shore do not die, but dry up and blow away." 

So mild was the climate of the Eastern Shore that figs, 
pomegranates and many varieties of tropical plants were 

316 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 317 

imported and set out by the first settlers. Flowers grew in 
wild luxuriance and beautified the simple homes, adding 
another element of sweetness to the general contentment of 
these people. 1 

So far as is known, there was no public school "on the 
peninsula in the seventeenth century. The wealthy planters 
sent their sons to England to be educated or they employed 
tutors. Of the latter, there seem to have been many, and some 
of them were men of rare attainments. As early as 1640, John 
Waltham provided in his will for the selection of a "good 
and godlye schoolmaster" with extraordinary care. 

The amounts provided for the education of their children, 
by many of the planters, are surprisingly large, even for a 
much later period. In many cases a specific number of 
cattle, with the natural increase, was set apart to defray the 
expense of tuition or schooling, and the records of no other 

'Over a century ago, Commodore Hal let brought a number of 
Mahogany slips from Central America to the Eastern Shore and set 
them out in the yard of his home. One of those slips survived, and is 
now a tree about three feet in diameter. In recent years, the old Hallet 
Estate, located on the extreme point of Cape Charles, came into the 
possession of Mr. John S. Wise. The new owner named the place 
"Kiptopeke," after the Indian chief who there welcomed John Smith 
in 1608. After several failures, Mr. Wise learned to rear the scions 
of the great tree, and to-day there are about 20 Mahogany trees pros- 
pering in his yard. The original tree is thought by the negroes to be 
haunted by the spirit of Commodore Hallet, which is said to loiter 
beneath its spreading branches at the mid-night hour. There are 
several Mahogany trees in Eastville, the county seat of Northampton, 
and one large tree in the yard of the rectory at Accomack Court House. 
Some years ago, a scion of the latter was transplanted by Mrs. \Y. B. 
Stokes on her estate in Goochland County and is now in* a nourishing 
condition. The author was told by Judge George L. Christian, of Rich- 
mond, that there is a large Mahogany on the old Christian estate in 
Charles City County. It has since been learned that this tree came from 
the Eastern Shore, transplanted by a Bayly who married a Christian. 
There are several magnificent Mahogany trees in Williamsburg. In view 
of the prosperity of these trees in different sections of Virginia, would 
it not be well to encourage the planting of the Mahogany on Virginia 
soil? 



318 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

counties in Virginia show such thoughtful attention to the 
matter of education as do those of the Eastern Shore. 1 

John Custis IV provided in his will that the proceeds 
from the labor of fourteen slaves should be expended for the 
maintenance and tuition of his grandson up to the time he 
should be sent to England for advanced instruction, and for 
the latter an additional large amount was set apart. 

John Savage, of Northampton, provided in his will that 
a horse and mare, two steers and two cows, with their in- 
crease, should be devoted to the education of his son Thomas 
in England. He also provided for the tuition of his two 
daughters by requiring his executors to hire out three 
servants; the proceeds of their labor to be used to pay the 
instructor for a period of five years. 

The principal and most active school-teacher on the Eastern 
Shore seems to have been John Higgs. This gentleman, in 
1679, undertook to conduct a private school of some magni- 
tude, relying upon the wealthier planters for patronage. A 
building on the plantation of a Mr. Macklannie was rented 
for a schoolhouse, for the use of which the scholars' fathers 
were to pay twenty pounds of tobacco apiece. Unfortunately 
the enterprise was not properly supported, and Mr. Higgs 
was soon forced to give up his school. 

The desire to have their children educated was not 
restricted to the whites, for in 1693 Thomas Carter, of 
Northampton, a free negro, left directions in his will for the 
education of his sons, and many of the negro children were 
taught to read and write, either by their parents or masters. 
The first mention of a free school was in the will of William 
Whittington, dated March 4, 1659, in which 2,000 pounds 
of tobacco was provided by the testator for a free school 
"should it go forward in Northampton." 

'Bruce's Institutional Hist, of Va. in the 17th Century. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 319 

The practice of dividing their estates among their children 
before death was quite common among the early Eastern 
Shoremen, for the doctrine of primo-geniture was not re- 
garded by them with particular favor. The first entail 
mentioned was one from William Andrews to his son Robert, 
July 8, 1653, and entails were comparatively infrequent. 

People in those days married while very young and hence 
had more time in which to repeat the act. Three or four 
wives for an Eastern Shoreman in the seventeenth century 
was not a record to excite comment. 

By 1673, Maryland, says Bruce, had become the "Gretna 
Green," of Virginia. The Pocomoke boundary line was 
delightfully convenient for Eastern Shore lovers, many of 
whom, barred from marrying for one reason or another at 
home, sought the sweet solace of legitimacy upon Maryland 
soil. When Scarburgh and Calvert ran the line in 1663, 
they selected a number of patriarchal oaks as boundary 
monuments. Through several generations these noble trees 
did service as sylvan temples, for beneath their spreading 
branches the Accomack lovers were frequently married, this 
practice giving rise to the name of "marriage trees." 

It was not always necessary for runaways to resort to the 
northern side of the "marriage trees," however, for it will 
be remembered how Mr. Getterings eloped with the little 
twelve-year-old Elizabeth Charlton while she was living in 
the family of Captain Jones, where she was being educated. 

Divorce was most uncommon. The husband's authority 
was absolute, and seldom questioned. Perhaps the good 
wives did not expect too much of their gallant consorts, and 
domestic bliss was not hampered by woman's suffrage and 
political associations. Occasionally, however, the decree of 
divorce was sought, as in the case of Alice Clawson' of North- 



320 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

ampton, who secured a divorce from her husband in 1655 
on the ground that he had for many years lived among the 
Nanticokc Indians in the character of their principal chief, 
and had refused to give up his Indian concubine. 1 

That the mid-wife was present, is evidenced by the fol- 
lowing old entry of 1682 : "Agnes William, aged 24 years, 
sayeth that Maudlin (Magdalen), wife of John Major, did 
bargain with Susan Helline, widdowe, for to keep her while 
she lay in childbed and did promise to give her 12 hens." 2 
It seems that the widow Helline sued Agnes for 18 hens. 

A funeral at this time was a splendid, and for many of the 
attendants a highly enjoyable, occasion. The shadow of 
death had no place among those sunny spirits. Barbecues 
were given and rum liberally dispensed by the afflicted 
family, and a general spree was indulged in at the expense 
of the estate of the deceased. The more boisterous mourners 
usually carried their fowling pieces and fire-arms to the 
funeral, and after the feast and bowl had somewhat assuaged 
their sorrow and enlivened the solemn occasion, a barbaric 
celebration ensued. 

Among the charges against the estate of Richard Leman 
for his funeral, in 1647, are the following: An ox at 800 
pounds of tobacco; 1 case of drams at 200 pounds; and a 
coffin at 100 pounds. William Carter, the caterer, for dress- 
ing the dinner was paid 100 pounds of tobacco, and for 
digging the grave 40 pounds. Numerous testators deprecated 
such extraordinary expense at their funerals and provided a 
limit to it in their wills. John Michael, of Northampton, 
voiced such a sentiment when he ordered in his will that 
there should be no drinking immoderately nor shooting 

'Northampton County Records, Vol. 1654-5, \>. 135. 
2 Accom;ic County, Vol. 1632-40, p. 1G. Va. State Library. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 321 

suffered "at his burial," for such excesses, he said, "were 
very unseasonable and inconsistent with the occasion." 
Instead of the usual festivities there was to be only "a civil 
and free entertainment." 1 

Every Eastern Shoreman was a natural sportsman, for no 
other locality in the world provided such sport as was to be 
found on the peninsula at that time. The fowling piece, 
the boat, and the fishing line, were as familiar to the youth 
then as they are now. Even the poor Indians, when they 
had been robbed of their lands, deprecated nothing so much 
as the loss of their hunting and fishing privileges, and for 
years after all tribal identity had been lost, the few remain- 
ing natives wore to be found pushing their canoes through 
the rushes and weaving their nets along the shores of the 
peninsula. These Indians were experts in the pursuit of 
wild fowl and fish, and many canvass back and sheepshead 
were ensnared in their nets, or fell victim to their unerring 
spears. 2 

Smith, in his General History, in describing the moans 
by which the natives caught their fish, says that the Indians 
of Accawmack used "staves like javelins headed with bone. 
With these they dart fish swimming in the water." "They 
have also many artificial wares in which they get abundance 
of fish." The word "wares" probably meant weirs, nets, 
traps, etc. 

It will be remembered how the Captain came to grief on 
Stingaree Point in practicing the art taught him by Kicto- 
peake. 

'Northampton County RecordSj Vol. 1674-9, p. 340 (Bruce). 

2 Near the point of Cape Charles, on the edge of Bullock's Channel. 
is an oyster rock called Indian Rock, where the natives three centuries 
ago speared sheepshead. The sport is indulged in at this particular 
spot at the present day. and a spear similar to those of the Indians is 
employed. 



322 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

As a result of the sportsmanlike tendencies of the early 
Eastern Shoremen, their great boards groaned under the 
weight of the finest oysters, duck, terrapin, crabs and fish. 
Colonel Henry Norwood, who visited the peninsula in 1650, 
tells us that there was keen rivalry between the planters 
there as to who should dine him first and most often ; and 
then he tells us that a traveller in the early days was put 
to no charge whatever, so hospitable were the planters. 

There seem to have been few homes on the Eastern Shore 
at the time of which we are writing, in which musical instru- 
ments of some kind were not found. At many of the enter- 
tainments, some female member of the family giving the 
dance furnished the music by playing on one of these instru- 
ments ; but the county records show that among the servants 
and slaves there were some who were especially valued for 
their skill with the fiddle, and that this skill was called into 
use on many gay occasions. Attached to the plantation of 
Captain Richard Bayly, of Accomac County, was a negro 
slave who, by his accomplishment in this respect, contributed 
as much to the diversion of the neighborhood as any person 
in it. This fiddler is found taking a prominent part in a 
lively scene which occurred at the house of the Rev. Thos. 
Teackle, to the scandal of the whole countryside, though the 
episode seems innocent enough in the light of modern days. 
Elizabeth Parker, accompanied by Samuel Doe. and his 
wife, went over to Mr. Teackle's house to visit his daughter 
while he was away. They carried the negro boy with them, 
and after their arrival it occurred to the little company that 
it would be pleasant in the opportune absence of the clergy- 
man to have a dance. The fiddle which had been left behind 
was sent for, and the dancing began. While it was going 
on, one James Fairfax came for the boy, but Elizabeth 



EASTEEX SHORE OE VIRGINIA HISTORY 323 

Parker made him abandon his purpose by informing him, 
with some temper, that she had borrowed the fiddler of her 
sister, Ursula Bayly, his owner. She, however, declared 
that the boy should not go unrewarded for his playing, and 
she pulled out her purse and gave him a Spanish piece of 
eight. She also persuaded Fairfax to remain and take part 
in the dancing. Some one present seems to have reproached 
Margaret Teackle for "undutifulness of carriage and de- 
meanor" towards Mr. Teackle "by making feast in his 
absence," but Elizabeth urged her to disregard her father, 
whose strict notions as to what was proper she probably 
scorned and despised, and to take advantage of his not being 
in the house to enjoy herself. Mr. Teackle, though a clergy- 
man, was a man of wealth and was engaged to be married 
to one of Elizabeth Parker's kinsfolks ; "and a proud woman 
she was," exclaimed the fair tempter, "and wore fringes at 
the binding of her petticoat." Margaret Teackle seems to 
have yielded only too readily to her friend's urgent appeal, 
and at once fetched the silk with which the fiddler might 
string his instrument ; and as a reward for his playing gave 
him several yards of ribbon as well as several yards of lace, 
all of which, no doubt, touched the negro's sense of finery. 

The dance started on Saturday night, and continued with 
spirit until nearly eleven o'clock of the following Sabbath 
morning. The company consisted of Elizabeth Parker, 
Jane Hall, Margaret Teackle, James Fairfax, and John 
Addison. In one interval of the dancing the hostess led her 
guests upstairs to show them her new gaiters. They seem 
to have overhauled the contents of her trunk, and among 
the articles which she presented to Elizabeth Parker were 
thread, laces and ribbons, and also a muslin cap adorned 
with a vard of fine lace. 



324 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

When Mr. Teackle returned home a few days afterwards, 
and was informed of the desecration of his house by a dance 
on the Sabbath day, even during the hour when services at 
Church were in progress, he was greatly scandalized, and at 
the next meeting of the county court formally presented 
Elizabeth Parker and her busband. The good preacher 
resented particularly Mrs. Parker's acceptance of the gifts 
of his daughter and endeavored to make out that they had 
been improperly taken from his house. 1 

This scene at the Rev. Mr. Teackle's house throws an 
entertaining light on the gay spirit of the young Acco- 
mackians of both sexes, who were ready to divert themselves 
on the most unexpected occasions, and who sometimes carried 
their love of amusement to a point that was well calculated 
to shock the piety of their elders. It was only by the 
indignant protest of Mr. Teackle in having the main culprit 
indicted in this special case that the incident is preserved 
for us, but similar instances of dances begun on the moment 
must have been of frequent occurrence, and have done much 
to brighten the social life of the county. Nor was dancing, 
occurring on a Sunday, a great rarity, though it never went 
unpunished. In 1698, William Johnson, of Accomac, was 
fined by the court for such an offense. 2 

If there was any undertaking to present a theatrical per- 
formance in Virginia previous to 1665, no record of the 
fact survives, says Bruce. In that year, however, when the 
Stuart dynasty had been restored to the throne in England, 
and the theatre was fast becoming one of the most popular 
as well as one of the most disreputable institutions in the 
kingdom, a play known as "Ye Bare and ye Cubb" was 

'Accomac County Records, Vol. 1600-97, 4). 161, et seq. (Bruce.) 
'Accomac Countj Records, Vol. 1679-1705, folio, p. 43. (Bruce.) 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 325 

acted on the Eastern Shore by three citizens of Accomac, 
Cornelius Watkinson, Philip Howard and William Darby, 
by name. As soon as the report of this performance reached 
the ears of the King's attorney, John Fawsett, he summoned 
them to court, where each was subjected to a rigid cross- 
examination. At this session the justices contented them- 
selves with ordering the culprits to appear at the next meet- 
ing of the court in the habiliments which they had worn 
in acting the alleged play, and they were also required to 
bring with them for inspection a copy of the "verses, 
speeches, and passages" which they had declaimed on that 
occasion. The justices must have found the performance 
of a very innocent character, for they directed the three men 
to be discharged, and the person who had informed on them 
to pay all the expenses of the presentment. 1 So quaint are 
the records of the court proceedings growing out of this, 
probably the first theatrical performance in English America, 
that extracts from the original records are here given: 

"Att a court held in Accomac County, ye 16th of Novem- 
ber, by his maties Justices of ye Peave for ye sd County, in 
ye Seaventeenth yeare of ye Reigne of or Sovraigne Lord 
Charles ye Second, By ye Grace of God, of Great Britaine, 
France, and Ireland, King, Defender of ye Faith, &c. : And 
in ye Yeare of or Lord God 1665. 

"Whereas, Cornelius Watkinson, Philip Howard, and 
William Darby, were this day accused by Jno. Fawsett, his 
maties Attory for Accomack County, for acting a play by 
them called ye Bare and ye Cubb, on ye 27th, of August last 
past ; upon examination of the same, The Court have thought 
fitt to suspend the Cause till ye next Court, & doe order \t 
the said Cornelius Watkinson, Philip Howard & Wm. Darby, 
appeare ye next Court, in those habilemts that they then 

Accomac County Records, Vol. 1663-66, folio, p. 102. (Bruce.) 



22 



326 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

acted in, and give a draught of such verses, or other speeches 
and passages, which were then acted by them; & that ye 
She rr detains Cornelius Watkinson & Philip Howard in his 
Custody until they put in security to perform this order. 
It is ordered yt the Sherr, arrest ye body of William Darby, 
for his appearance ye next Court, to answere at his maties 
suit, for acting or being actour of a play commonly called 
ye Beare & ye Cubb." 

"Att a Court held in Accomack County, ye 18th of 
December, by his maties Justices of ye Peace for ye sd 
County, in ye Seaventeenth yeare of ye Raigne of or 
Sovraigne Lord Charles ye Second, By ye Grace of God, 
of Great Britain, France, & Ireland, King, Defendr of ye 
Faith, &c. : And in ye yeare of or Lord 1665. 

"Its ordered yt ye Sherr sumons Edward Martin to ye 
next Court, to show cause why hee should not pay ye 
charges wch accrued upon ye information given by him 
against Cornelius Watkinson, Philip Howard, & William 
Darby." 

"Att a Court held in Accomack County, ye 17th of 
January, Etc. 

"Whereas, Edward Martin was this day examined con- 
cerning his information given to Mr. Fawsett, his maties 
Attory for Accomack County, about a play called the bare 
& ye Cubb, whereby severall persons were brought to court & 
charges thereon arise, but the Court finding the said persons 
not guilty of fault, suspended ye payment of Court charges ; 
& forasmuch as it appeareth upon ye Oath of ye said Mr. 
Fawsett, that upon ye sd Edward Martin's information, the 
Charge and trouble of that suit did accrew, It's therefore 
ordered that ye said Edward Martin pay all ye Charges in 
ye suit Els. Exon." 

Such extracts, says Campbell, exemplify the simplicity of 
the times, and the verbosity of the court records; while the 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 327 

final decision in this case is not less equitable than those 
of Sancho Panza, sometime Governor of Barataria, or those 
celebrated in Knickerbocker's History of New York. 

The game of nine-pins, like backgammon, has always been 
very popular on the Eastern Shore. As early as 1636, 
William Ward of Accomac is found participating in a game 
of this kind which took place at the house of John Dunn, and 
the diversion proved so absorbing that he is reported to have 
spent the whole day engaged in it. That same year, Lady 
Dale's cattle were mentioned as trespassing, owing to their 
keeper being oif playing nine-pins. 1 

A game which took place in 1693 was played in a private 
residence. Joseph Godwin, the son of the owner of the 
house, bet his opponent that he would tip seven pins, but 
only succeeded in tipping five. A quarrel arose over the 
payment of the wager, and a violent scuffle ensued, which 
seems to have brought the parties into court. 2 

It is needless to say that the gin-shop and tavern flourished 
in those days, and were very well patronized. In a fore- 
going chapter, the first taverns and gin-shops have been 
referred to. Until a late date, Court was held at the various 
taverns which were, of course, located at convenient points 
of travel. In 1652, Walter Williams, the ordinary keeper 
at Nassawattocks, complained to the Court that he could 
not collect his dues from many of the inhabitants who owed 
him for their accommodations. A minute of the North- 
ampton County Court, dated 1678, records the fact that it 
had become the practice of several persons to attend on the 
occasion of the court's meeting in order to get intoxicated, 
quarrel, and fight, and that they had the "impudence" to 

Accomac County Records, Vol. 1632-40, Va. State Library, p. 59. 
'Northampton County Records. Vol. 1689-98, p. 263. (Bruce.) 



328 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

enter the court-room whilst the judges were sitting, and be 
abusive to their faces. A strict measure for repressing these 
roughs was adopted, and the keeper of the ordinary near the 
court house was warned that, unless he preserved perfect 
order in his tavern, his license would be withdrawn. In 
spite of such precautions on the part of the court, much 
drunkenness seems to have prevailed by the time night 
arrived. This fact was so well known that the indentured 
servants very often took advantage of the relaxed vigilance 
of that hour to make their preparations for flight. About 
1680, a servant confessed in Northampton County that he 
had been waiting for a court day in order to steal a bridle 
and a saddle. This, he said, he could do as soon as night 
came on, when he knew the people would be too much in 
drink to observe his actions. The bridle and saddle he in- 
tended to hide in the woods until he could run off with one 
of his master's horses and thus make good his escape to 
Maryland. 1 

There are those living to-day on the Eastern Shore who 
recall, no doubt, with regret, the old institution of Court 
Day. The ladies, of course, since they did not then claim 
the right of suffrage, kept well out of sight, and the gentle- 
men indulged themselves to the full without restraint. 
Much of the local business of the time was transacted on 
court day, creditors made this the last day of grace, land 
titles were transferred, horses traded, races held on the shell 
roads of the county and the swiftest boats, bateaux, 
"kunners" and sloops assembled in the nearby creek for the 
usual court-day regatta. Governor Nicholson, during the 
course of his administration, offered prizes to all who should 
excel in riding, running, shooting, wrestling and cudgelling. 2 

Northampton County Records, 1679-83, pp. 52, 53. (Bruce.) 
^Beverley's History. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 329 

What Eastern Shoreman has not heard his father or 
grandfather speak of court day in terms of affection, as of 
an old friend long since departed ? What a twinkle comes 
in the old man's eye ! He is looking back through the mist 
of years to those joyous, gay, noisy, crowded, quarrelsome, 
cruel, racy, inebriated, but withal happy court days of a 
past generation. They served their purpose like other quaint 
institutions of the ancient order; their harmful feature can 
do us no injury now, for those days are gone, irretrievably 
gone. 

Duelling was quite common on the Eastern Shore in the 
seventeenth century, and some of the indentured servants 
seem to have been as fiery in nature and as quick to resent 
an affront, real or imaginary, as were their masters. In 
1661, a servant belonging to Christopher Calvert sent a 
peremptory challenge to Goslin Van Netsen, a citizen of 
Dutch origin. The challenge was accepted, the duel fought, 
and the servant badly wounded. Calvert was ordered by 
the county court to pay for the present, all the fees which 
Dr. George Nicholas Hacke should charge for medical 
attendance on the injured man, but they were ultimately 
to be shared by Van Netsen, who had inflicted the wound. 
Calvert was to be finally compensated by an extension of the 
servant's term of service. 1 It is probable that, in this case, 
the servant sending the challenge really belonged to a higher 
social grade than appears in the records. Many of those 
bound by articles of indenture were, as we have seen, young 
men of gentle connections, whose social antecedents were 
inconsistent with the position in which they placed them- 
selves; or it may be they had signed the articles in order 

'Northampton County Records, Vol. 1657-64, p. 132. (Bruce.) 



330 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

to learn some specified pursuit, like tobacco planting, before 
embarking in it on their own independent account. 1 

Dr. Severn, Peter Cropper, and the first of the Tullys 
were entered in the records as servants, though they were 
all men of high social standing, the first named having 
received his professional education in Germany. But let us 
return to the duel. 

It is not likely that Van NTetzen would have accepted a 
challenge from an ordinary servant, as that would have been 
regarded as a confession on his part of the social equality of 
his antagonist with himself. At any rate, the servant seems 
to have got the worst of the affair both in the conflict and the 
subsequent settlement of damages, which after all was quite 
proper in view of his insolence. 

A duel between Captain William Epps and Captain 
Stallinge, in which the latter was killed, about 1619, has 
been referred to in a previous chapter. This was probably 
the first duel between Englishmen in America. 2 

A great affection often sprang up between the white 
servants and their masters, who frequently, in case of a 
worthy servant, established him in business when his term 
of servitude expired. In the old records, a peculiar instance 
is cited where Robert Healing of Accomac, who was bound 
to Thomas Young, gave his master, in 1634, a man-servant 
whom he had probably purchased from a merchant or 
ship-owner. 3 

And now of the traditions and superstitions of these 
strange and interesting people of the seventeenth century, 
a few should be given in these pages. 

"The Bogey of Cradock Marsh," is one of the earliest 

traditions, and is to-day one of the best known. This bogey, 

'Bruce's Social Life of Virginia, in Seventeenth Cent., p. 248. 

2 See chapter on Plantation of Accomac. 

"Accomac County Kecords, Vol. 1632-40, p. 46. (Bruce.) 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 331 

whatever it may be, whether man or beast, has been sought 
by armed hunting parties for several centuries. By day and 
by torchlight, its trail of foot-tracks has been followed only 
to be lost as the weird cry of "Yahoo ! Yahoo !" resounds 
through the dismal wastes of marsh to warn the curious of 
the futility of their quest, and to make the blood of the 
half-hearted searchers run cold. And then there is the head- 
less man, who for centuries has exacted toll at "Taylor's 
Bridge" until stingy travellers refuse to pass that way at 
night ! It is said that he never demands more than four- 
pence-half-penny, and that those who refuse to pay him 
invariably come to grief. 

Then there are the ancient traditions growing out of the 
pirates' occupation of Parramore's Beach, Revell's Island, 
Hog Island, and Rogues' Island; the latter so named from 
the character of its early tenants. For a true appreciation 
of these charming old tales, one must visit the country and 
hear the old folks and the negroes recount them before a 
winter's fire, as the gale howls and shrieks through the 
ancient pines and flurries the sand against the window panes ; 
or one must lie out upon the deck of a fishing craft, anchored 
in some remote inlet among the sea islands, and listen to 
the weather-worn sailors tell their tales of mystery, as the 
tide swishes along the reedy shores and the weird voices 
of night whisper among the rushes of the neighboring marsh. 

An account of the Eastern Shore without some mention 
of the queer old tales about John Custis, the fourth of the 
name, who inherited "Arlington," after which the Potomac 
estate was named, would be, as the sailors say, like a song 
without a chorus. 

This John Custis married Frances Parke, daughter of 
Daniel Parke, Governor of the Leeward Islands, and their 
son, Daniel Parke Custis, was the first h usband of Martha 

\ 



332 EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

Dandridge, afterwards Martha Washington. John Custis 
and Frances Parke lived at "Arlington" many years. The 
alliance seems to have been a very unhappy one, and many 
stories of their contentious life have been handed down to 
us. Frances was a lady of much determination, which led 
to frequent conflicts with her eccentric husband. It is said 
that for weeks at a time they lived together without speaking 
to each other. During these long periods of silence, all com- 
munication was carried on between them by means of the 
servants. For instance, Mrs. Custis would say to the butler: 
"Pompy, ask your master if he will have coffee or tea, and 
sugar and cream," and to the servant's question, Mr. Custis 
would reply: "Tell your mistress that I will have coffee 
as usual, with no cream." 

After one of these long spells of non-intercourse, Mr. 
Custis dressed himself with great care one day, ordered his 
best horse and gig to the door, and in the most polite and 
dignified manner, invited Mrs. Custis to accompany him on 
a drive. "Certainly, Mr. Custis, certainly, sir, I will be 
delighted, but when were you ever so courteous before?" 
inquired the grand lady. 

Instead of taking the usual route along the bay beach, 
the gallant whip headed his horse straight out into the bay, 
the water deepening very gradually near Arlington. "Where 
are you going, Mr. Custis ?" asked his wife. "To h — 1, 
Madam," he replied. "Drive on," said she, "any place is 
preferable to Arlington." 

Presently the water began to enter the gig. "Again I ask, 
where are you taking me to?" said Mrs. Custis. "To h — 1, 
Madam, as I have already told you," answered Mr. Custis. 
"And again I say, drive on, Mr. Custis, the prospect is far 
brighter than that of a return home," retorted the bold lady. 



EASTERN SHORE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 333 

After proceeding so far out from shore that the horse was 
all but forced to swim, Mr. Custis turned his animal's head 
to the shore, saying to his wife with much emphasis, "If I 
were to drive to h — 1 and the devil himself came out to meet 
us, I do not believe, Madam, that you would be frightened." 
"Quite true, sir," she replied, "I know you so well that I 
would not be afraid to go where you would go." 

After this adventure, the couple seem to have lived more 
happily together, for a deed, to which they were both parties, 
was soon drawn up, in which mutual concessions were made 
in the hope that domestic tranquillity might ensue. So 
curious is this instrument, that its full text is given in the 
appendix. 

Mr. Custis survived his wife seven years. Whether her 
memory was held in great affection by him may be deter- 
mined by the reader from the inscription which he ordered 
to be put on his tombstone. The deed of settlement seems 
to have been only partially successful at most: 1 

Beneath this marble tomb lies ye body 

of the Honorable John Custis, Esq., 

of the City of Williamsburg and Parish of Bruton 

Formerly of Hungar's Parish on the Eastern Shore of 

Virginia and the County of Northampton the place 

of his nativity. 

Aged 71 years and yet lived but seven years 

Which was the space of time he kept 

a Bachelor's House at Arlington 

On the Eastern Shore of Virginia. 

This information put on this tomb was by his 

own positive order. 

Wm. Colley, Mason, in Fenchurch Street, London, Fecit. 

^he inscription of this old tombstone could easily be read until a 
year or so ago. I am informed that the stone has been recently 
destroyed. 



33 1 EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

This then was the mode of the revengeful and spiteful 
John's satisfaction. Tt was not enough that his contem- 
poraries should witness his domestic and marital difficulties, 
but posterity must be apprised of his wife's character, not 
to say his own, by means of an elaborate tombstone, wrought 
by the hand of a London Mason. 

In such tales as the Bogey of Cradock's Marsh, the head- 
less man of Taylor's Bridge, and many others of these simple 
sea-faring people, we see but a recurrence of the ancient 
myths which appear in the lore of nearly every primitive 
folk. The Headless Hessian, Koschei the Deathless, and 
William Tell are often found as old friends in a new garb. 
But tangible and recognized by the law courts of the seven- 
teenth century was the superstition which gave rise to, and 
created the "Ordeal of Touch" or the "Bier Test," as the 
ancient ceremony was called. Here, on the Eastern Shore of 
Virginia, occurred the last instance of this, the weirdest 
fiction of mediaeval days, inherited from a Saxon ancestry 
and transplanted upon American shores by the early Acco- 
mackians. 

The ordeal or "test" grew out of the superstition that 
upon the murderer touching or coming into the presence of 
the body of the victim, the wounds would bleed afresh. The 
belief was widely prevalent even among the educated people 
of Scotland and England in the seventeenth century. 
Michael Drayton, an English poet, who lived about 1600, 
wrote : 



"If the vile actors of the heinous deed 
Near the dead body happily be brought, 
Oft has been prov'd the breathless corpse will bleed." 



EASTEEN SHOEE OF VIEGINIA HISTOEY 335 

Perhaps, however, the best known allusion to this belief 
is that contained in Act I, Scene II, of Richard III, where 
Lady Anne, in the presence of the body of the dead King, is 
made to accuse Gloster in the following passage : 

"O gentlemen, see, see, dead Henry's wounds 
Open their congeal'd mouths and bleed afresh ! 
Blush, blush, thou lump of foul deformity, 
For't is thy presence that exhales this blood 
From cold and empty veins, where no blood dwells." 

The records of Northampton County show that on Decem- 
ber 14, 1656, Captain William Whittington issued a warrant 
for a Jury of Inquest over the body of Paul Rynners, sup- 
posed to have been murdered by William Custis, Gent. The 
Jury reported : 

"We have viewed the body of Paul Rynnuse, late of this 
county deceased & have caused Wm. Custis to touch the face 
& stroke the body of said Paul Rynnuse which he willingly 
did. But no sign did appear unto us of question in the law." 

Accordingly, the accused Mr. Custis was exonerated by 
the Court. Later we find in Accomack a very full record of 
the proceedings of "The Ordeal of Touch" in connection 
with a case of infanticide: 

"Att a Court held & continued for Accomack County, 
March 18, 1679. The Confession of Paul Carter taken the 
First day of March, 1679. 

"Quest. What doe yu know concerning a child born of 
Mary the daughter of Sarah, the wife of the said Paul ? 

"Answere. That he doth know that the said Mary had a 
man child born of her body and that the said Sarah assisted 
at the birth of the said child, & that he certainly knoweth 
not whether it were born alive or not & that they did 
endeavor to preserve the life thereof and that it lay betwixt 



336 EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 

his wife and her daughter all night and that ye next morning 
he saw it was dead & he and his wife carefully buried the 
said child but that his wife carefully washed and dressed it. 

"Quest. Doe yu know or have ever heard, who was the 
father thereof reputed ? 

"Answere. The said Mary charged one Mr. James Tuck 
therewith." 

And so the record runs through various examinations of 
Sarah and Mary with the result that Paul and Mary were 
separated by the court and the former indicted for the 
crime. 1 

This is said to be the last instance of the curious "Ordeal 
of Touch" or "Bier Test" on record. 

In the foregoing chapters certain facts have been gone 
into with what may seem undue particularity, in the hope 
that the high lights and shadows of the picture might 
increase the expression of the whole, and that a keener eye 
might detect features which have escaped the notice of the 
writer. 

From the facts presented, we must form our own conclu- 
sion as to the real conditions surrounding the early Eastern 
Shoreman, but it is not difficult to believe that his lot was a 
peculiarly happy and fortunate one, nor to appreciate the 
truth of Colonel Norwood's statement that in 1650, "North- 
ampton County was the best of the whole (Colony) for all 
sorts of necessaries for human life." 2 

And now let me ask those who have claimed to describe 
Colonial Virginia, how they account for their comparative 

ir lhe full text of the proceedings in this case is published in Vol. II, 
Va. Magazine of Hist, and Biog. pp. 185-197, a reading of which will 
amply repay the curious. The extract from the county records was 
prepared by Mr. M. Oldham, County Clerk, in 1896. 

2 A Voyage to Virginia. Force's Collection of Historical Tracts, 
Volume III. 



EASTERN SHOEE OF VIRGINIA HISTORY 337 

disregard of this section of the Old Dominion where the 
purest blood of England has coursed through the veins of the 
people during three centuries; where loyalty to the King 
was the most intense, yet where a spirit of independence 
arose with the first generation born upon that soil; where 
population was the densest, wealth the greatest, trade the 
most highly developed ; that land, whose very Savages saved 
the infant colonv on two different occasions ? 



APPENDIX 



CONTENTS OF APPENDIX 

PAGE 

Members of Colonial Council and Burgesses from Eastern 

Shore in 17th Century 343 

A Curious Deed Drawn Up by John Custis IV and His 

Wife, Frances Parke 343 

Papers in Northampton County Archives Kelating to 

Sir Thomas Dale 351 

A Proclamation of Lord Culpeper's Eelating to Tobacco 

Cutting 353 

Abstracts from Virginia Land Patents 356 

Notes Taken from Virginia Magazine of History and Biog- 
raphy Concerning Early Accomac Settlers 361 

Abstracts from Accomac County Eecords Relating to Bacon's 

Rebellion 365 

Two Curious Wills, from Northampton County Records. . . 369 

Translation of Indian Names, Found in Northampton and 
Accomac Counties, and on the Eastern Shore of Mary- 
land 371 

List of Tithables in Northampton County for 1666 373 



341 



23 



EASTERN SHORE REPRESENTATIVES IN THE 

COUNCIL AND ASSEMBLY DURING 

17TH CENTURY 

COUNCIL. 
Abgoll Yeardley, 1639. 

Born 1605 in England, 

Died 1670 in Northampton County. 

Obedience Robins, 1655. 

Born Apr. 16. 1600, in England, 

Died , 1662 in Northampton County. 

Gen. John Custis II, 1677. 

Born in Virginia , 1630, 

Died in Virginia Jan. 1696. 

Charles Scabbubgh, 1691. 

Born in Virginia, 

Died in Virginia, 1703. 

John Custis III, 1699. 

Born in Virginia, , 1653, 

Died in Virginia, Jan. 26, 1713. 

John Custis IV, 1727. 

Born in Virginia, , 1678, 

Died in Virginia, November, 1749. 

HOUSE OF BURGESSES. 

162k EASTERN SHORE. 

(HeningI, 121-129.) 

Captain John Willcox, 
Henry Watkins. 

1629 "For the Eastern Shore noe burgesses did appear." 

(Hening L, 137-139.) 
1629-80. ACCOMAG. 

(HeningI, 147-149.) 

Capt. Thos. Graves, 
Edmund Scarburgh (1), 
Obedience Robins, 
Henry Bagwell. 

343 



344 APPENDIX 



16S1-2. ACGOMAC. 

(HeningI, 153.) 

Edmund Scarburgh, 

John Howe. 

16S2. ACCOM AC. 

(HeningI, 178-179.) 

Capt. Thos. Graves, 
John Howe, 
Henry Bagwell, 
Charles Harmer. 

16S2-S. ACCOMAC. 

(HeningL, 202-203.) 

Captain Edmund Scarburgh ( 1 ) , 
John Howe, 
Roger Saunders, 
John Wilkinson. 

16S9. ACCOMAC. 

(Va. Col. Reg. 60.) 

Obedience Robins, 
John Neale. 

1641. ACCOMAC. 

(Va. Col. Reg. 61.) 

John Wilkins, 
John Neale. 

16^2. NORTHAMPTON. 

(Hening I, 236.) 

Obedience Robins, 
John Neale. 

1642-S. NORTHAMPTON. 

(HeningI, 239.) 

Philip Taylor, 

Edmund Scarburgh (II). 

1644. NORTHAMPTON. 

(HeningI, 283.) 



Obedience Robins, 
Edward Douglas. 



APPENDIX 345 



1644-5. NORTHAMPTON. 

(HeningI, 289.) 

Edmund Scarburgh (II), 
Stephen Charlton. 

16^5. NORTHAMPTON. 

(HeningI, 298, 299.) 

Edmund Scarburgh, Speaker, 
Thos. Johnson. 

1645-46. NORTHAMPTON. 

(HeningL, 309-323.) 

Probably same as 1645. 

1646. NORTHAMPTON. 
(HeningI, 322-323.) 

Edward Douglas, 
Thos. Johnson. 

1647. NORTHAMPTON. 
(HeningI, 339-340.) 

Edmund Scarburgh (II), 
Stephen Charlton. 

1652. April. NORTHAMPTON. 

(HeningI, 369-371.) 

Obedience Robins, 
Edmund Scarburgh (II), 
Thos. Johnson, 
Wm. Jones, 
Anthony Hoskins. 

1652. Nov. NORTHAMPTON. 

(HeningI, 373-374.) 

Lieut. Col. Obedience Robins, 
Stephen Charlton. 

165S. NORTHAMPTON. 

(HeningL, 379.) 

Capt. Thomas Johnson, 
Wm. Mellin, 
Stephen Horsey. 



346 APPENDIX 

1654. NORTHAMPTON. 

(Hening I, 386-387.) 

Peter Walker, 
Wm. Waters, 
Thos. Johnson. 

1655-6. NORTHAMPTON. 

(Hening I, 414-421-22, Va. Mag. of Hist, and Bio. Vol. 8, 
388-9.) 

Col. Edmund Scarburgh. 

1657-8. NORTHAMPTON. 

(Hening I, 429-432.) 

William Kendall, 

Wm. Mellings, 

Capt. Wm. Mitchell, 

Randall Revell, 

John Willcox. 

1658-9. NORTHAMPTON. 

(Hening I, 506-507.) 

John Stringer, 
Wm. Jones. 

1659-60. NORTHAMPTON. 

( Hening L, 527-530.) 

Col. Edmund Scarburgh, 
Maj. Wm. Waters, 
Lieut. Coll. John Stringer. 

1661-1676. NORTHAMPTON. 

(Session Sept. 1663.) 
(Hening II, 196-197.) 

Lieut. Col. Wm. Kendall, 
Maj. Wm. Andrews. 

ACCOMAC. 

Devoreux Browne, 
Hugh Yeo. 

Session Oct. 1666. NORTHAMPTON. 

( Hening II, 249-250. ) 

Lieut. Col. Wm. Kendall, 
Capt. Geo. Swavage (Savage). 



APPENDIX 347 



ACCOM AC. 



Col. Edmund Scarburgh, 
Hugh Yeo. 

1678-86. NORTHAMPTON. 

(Va. Col. Reg. 84.) 

Col. Wm. Kendall, Speaker. 

ACCOM AC. 
Capt. John Custis. 

1688. NORTHAMPTON. 

(Va. Col. Reg. 86.) 

Thos. Harmanson, 
Wm. Kendall. 

ACCOM AC. 

Chas. Scarburgh, 
Wm. Anderson. 

1692-9S. NORTHAMPTON. 

(Va. Col. Reg. 87.) 

Capt. John Custis, 
Capt. W. Kendall. 



ACCOMAC. 



Maj. Richard Bayley, 
Samuel Sandford. 



16967. NORTHAMPTON. 

(Va. Col. Reg. 91.) 



John Custis, 

Wm. Waters, Sheriff. 



ACCOMAC. 



John Washburn, 
Richard Bayley. 



A DEED DRAWN UP BY JOHN CUSTIS IV AND 
HIS WIFE FRANCES PARKE 

Articles of Agreement Betwixt Mr. John Custis and 

His Wife 

"Whereas some differences and Quarrels have arisen 
betwixt Mr. John Custis & Frances his wife concerning some 
money, Plate and other things taken from him by the sd 
frances and a more plentiful maintenance for her. Now 
to the end and all animostys and unkindness may cease and 
a perfect love "and friendship may be renewed betwixt them 
they have mutually agreed upon the following articles this 
day of June anno Domi 1714: 

"1st. First it is agreed that the sd Frances shall return 
to the sd John all the money, Plate and other things what- 
soever that she hath taken from him or removed out of the 
house upon oath and be obliged never to take away by herself 
or any other, anything of value from him again or dispose 
of anything of value out of the family without his consent, 
nor sell, give away or run him in debt without his consent, 
upon the condition that the plate and damaske linen shall 
not be given or disposed of by the aforesaid John from the 
said during her life, and the said John doth covent. sd 
plate & linnen to be delivered by the said frances to ye said 
John shall be given to the children of the said John by the 
said Frances immediately after her decease. 

"2nd. That Frances shall henceforth for bear to call him 
ye sd John any vile names or give him any ill language, 
neither shall he give her any but to live lovingly together 
and to behave themselves to each other as a good husband 
& good wife ought to doe. And that she shall not inter- 
meddle with his affairs but that all business belonging to 
the husband's management shall be solely transacted by him, 
neither shall he intermeddle in her domestique affairs but 
that all business properly belonging to the management of 
the wife shall be solely transacted by her. 

"3rd. That the sd John shall pay all the debts he hath 
already contracted out of the debts now due to the Estate 

348 



APPENDIX 349 

and the money he hath received if there will be sufficient to 
pay them : and that he shall enter into Bond to Philip Lud- 
well in the sum of one thousand pounds that from hence- 
forward he shall keep true and perfect accounts of all the 
profitts and disbursements of his whole estate in any part of 
Virginia that he is now possessed of, and alsoe of all the 
estate he shall at any time hereafter by her means be 
possessed of in any part of the world, and shall produce the 
same accounts yearly if it be required upon oath. And that 
all debts hereafter necessarily accrueing for buying claothes, 
tools and all the necessary for servants and plantations, pay- 
ing leavys and Quitt-rents & making repairs of his whole 
estate and alsoe all other necessary charges acrewing for the 
use & benefitt of the estate which is to descend to the child 
of ye sd Frances are deducted and paid he shall freely & 
without grudging allow one full moity or half of all the clear 
produce of his whole estate as aforesaid annually to the 
said Frances for clothing herself and her children with a 
reasonable proportion thereof and the remainder to be all 
laid out in the education of the children & for furnishing 
and providing all things that are necessary for housekeep- 
ing (that are to be brought from England) and Physick soe 
long as the sd Frances shall live peace quietly with him, and 
that he shall allow for the maintenance and family one 
bushel of wheat for every week and a sufficient quantity of 
Indian Corn and as much flessh of all kinds as the stocks 
of Cattle, Sheep and hoggs of his whole estate will afforde 
without impairing them if so much shall be necessary, and 
sufficient quantity of Cyder and Brandy is so much be made 
on the plantations : Provided nothing herein contained shall 
be construed to debar the sd John of the free command and 
use of anything that shall be provided for housekeeping soe 
as he doth not sell any of it without her consent. Provided 
also that the condition of this bond be that if the sd Frances 
doe exceed the allowance herein exprest in these articles, 
run him in debt or break any of them the bond to be voyd 
and the allowance to cease. 

"4th. That the sd John shall allow the sd Frances to 
keep in the house to do the necessary work in and about the 



350 APPENDIX 

same servants she now hath vizt. : Jenny, Queen, Pompy & 
. . . or such others in their stead and also Billy boy or 
little Eoger and Anthony or such another in his stead to send 
the garden, goe of errands or with the coach, catch horses 
and doe all other necessary works about the house, and if any 
of them dye ye sd John shall put others in thyr stead. 

"5th. That ye sd John shall allow the sd Frances fifteen 
pounds of wool and fifteen pounds of fine dressed flax or 
fifteen pounds of wool in lieu thereof every year to spin 
for any use in the family shall think fit. 

"6 th. That the sd Frances shall have free liberty to 
give away twenty yards of Virginia cloth every year to 
charitable uses if soe much remain after the servants are 
clothed. 

"7th. That the sd Frances shall have free liberty to keep 
a white servant if she shall think fitt out of the above allow- 
ance soe as the sd servant be alsoe subject to ye sd John. 

"8th. And foreasmuch as the one-half of the clear 
produce of the tobacco being to be taken upon the sale of it 
and the Cloathing and other necessarys to be bought in 
England and that it will generally be at least twelve months 
before an account of sales can be had from thence and an 
invoyce sent thither, therefore for the supplying the present 
wants of the said Frances the children and the house in 
manner and for the use aforesaid, the said John shall allow to 
the said Frances fifty pounds in money if there shall be soe 
much left remaining of the debts now due to the estate and 
money now on hand after all the debts already contracted 
by him or her shall be paid as afores'd. 

"9th. That ye ssd Frances shall render a true acc't 
under oath to ye ssd John if he shall require it how ye sd 
fifty pounds and alsoe ye clear profits yearly are expended 
and laid out." 1 

'We are indebted to Mr. G. C. Callahan, of Philadelphia, for a 
copy of this draft. 



SIR THOMAS DALE 
Extracts from Northampton Records 

"Whereas Sir Thomas Dale, Knight Marshall of Virginia 
hath payd in ready money to Sir Thomas Smith Knight 
Treasurer of Virginia the summe of three hundred seventy 
five pounds for his Adventures towards the sayd voyage. It 
is agreed that for the same hee the sayd Sir Thomas Dale his 
heirs, executors, Administrators or assigns shall have ratably 
according to his Adventures his full part of all such lands 
tenements and hereditaments, as shall from tyme to tyme 
bee there recovered planted and inhabited. Ans of such 
mynes and mineralls of gold, silver, and other metalls or 
treasure, pearls, precious stones, or any kind of wares or 
merchandizes, commodityes or profits whatsoever which shall 
be obtayned or gotten in the said voyage according to the 
portion of money by him ymployed to that use, in as Ample 
manner as any other Adventurer therein shall receyve for the 
like summe. 

"Written the twenty-seventh of February Anno Dom. 1610. 

"Edward Mayor." 

"Whereas the right honorable Sir Thomas Dale Knight 
Marshall of Virginia (being the first man of his ranke and 
degree that hath undertaken that charge and place) hath not 
only adventured his person in that service in tymes of greatest 
difficulty but has been at great charges both in furthering the 
action and furnishing himselfe. The Counsell of Virginia at 
their meeting on the xviijth of this instant upon their special 
trust and confidence that as hee hath begunn so he will pro- 
ceed and continue in advancing soe christian and noble an 
Action, have withe unanimous consent thought this: — That 
our consideration he now had of him, but such (as in future 
times) shal be by no means drawne into precedent upon any 

351 



352 APPENDIX 

occasion whatsoever — They therefore agreed that his person 
should be rated at the summe of seven hundred pounds and 
that hee, the said Sir Thomas Dale, his heyres, Executors, 
Administrators or Assigns shall have ratably (according to 
the sayd Some) his and their full share of all such lands, 
Tenements and hereditaments as shall from tyme to tyme be 
there recovered, planted and inhabited. And of such mynes 
and mineralls of Gold and Silver and other metalls or 
Treasures, pearls, precious stones, or any kinds of wares or 
merchandizes, commodities or profits whatsoever which shalbe 
obtayned or gotten in the said voyage in as ample manner 
as any other adventurer therein shall ratably receive for the 
like summe. 

"Written this xxvith of February Ano Domo. 161. 

"Edward Mayor." 

"This coppie agreeth with the originall under the seale of 
the Virginia Company, examyned the xiith day of October 
1643 by us under written. 

"Fra: Moses. Nory Public. 
"Solo: Seabright. Nory Public. 



HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS 

[From 1682-1710] 

Virginia 
by his excellenc1e. a proclamation 

Whereas, many euill and ill-disposed persons, inhabitants 
of this colonie, contrary to their duety and allegiance to our 
Souereigne Lord the King, on the first day of May, in the 
24th yeare of the reign of our Souereigne Lord the King, 
and since, tumultuously and mutinously assembled and gath- 
ered together, combineing, and presumeing to reform, this 
his Majesties Gouerment, by cvting vp and destroying all 
tobacco plants, and to perpetrate the same, in a traiterous 
and rebellious manner, with force and arms, entered the 
plantations of many of his Majesties good subjects of this 
colonie, resolving by open force a generall and totall de- 
struction of all tobacco plants in this his Majesties dominion, 
to the hazarding the subverssion of the whole gouerment, 
and ruins and destruction of these his Majesties good sub- 
jects, if by Gods assistance, and the prudent care and con- 
duct of the then Lief tenant Gouernor and Councell, the mu- 
tiners had not been timely suppressed, for which treasons 
and rebellions against his Majesty, and this his goverment, 
some notorious actors haue been indicted, convicted, and 
condemned, and suffered such pains and punishments as 
for their treasons and rebellion they justly deserued. And 
whereas, I and the Councell are well satisfied, that many of 
his Majesties good subjects, were preuailed with, and se- 

353 



354 APPENDIX 

duced from their allegiance, by the specious (though false) 
pretences, of the designers and contrivers of those crimes, 
misdeeds, treasons, and rebellions: And hauering, since, by 
their dutifull demeanor, manifested themselves sencible of 
the notoriousness of their crimes, and how lyeable they are 
to answer for the same according to Law, and those appre- 
hensions lyeing heavie on the spirrits of many his Majesties 
seduced subjects, which being taken into serious considera- 
tion. 

I therefore, Tho. Lord Culpeper, Barron of Thorsway, his 
Majesties Lieftenant and Gouernor Generall of Virginia, out 
of pitty and compassion to his Majesties seduced subjects, 
and for the setling and composeing of their disturbed minds, 
haue thought fitt, and in his Majesties name, by and with 
the advice of the Couuncell, by this proclamation, doe pub- 
lish and declare, that all and every person and persons, 
whatsoever, his Majesties subjects of this colonie, who haue 
ingaged with, or adhered to the said traiterous rebellious 
plant cutters and plant destroyers, in the yeare of our Lord 
1682, first taking the oath of obedience mentioned in the 
act of Parliament, made in England, in the third yeare of the 
reign of his Majesties Royall Grand Father, before two if 
his Majesties justices of the peace, whereof one to be of the 
quorum ; or in open Court ; shall be and hereby are par- 
doned and forgiuen, all the treasons, rebellions, crimes, and 
misdeeds, by him or them, acted, done, committed, or con- 
cealed in relation to the said plant destroying and disturb- 
ance of his Majesties gouerment as aforesaid, and shall be 
free from all punishments, and forfetures for, or by reason 
of the same. 

Except Richard Bayley, late convicted and condemned for 
the same ; John Hayley, Henry Ismon, and John Wise, who 



APPENDIX 355 

are fled, not dareing to abide their legall tr jails. As alsoe 
Robert Beverley, John Sackler and Thomas Amies. 

And to the end all his Majesties subjects, in this dominion, 
may have notice thereof, I doe in his Majesties name require 
and comand, all sheriffs in their respective counties, to pub- 
lish and make known this proclamation, at the Court House, 
and in all other publique places of the said counties : As 
likewise all ministers, in their respectiue parishes, to the 
intent none may pretend ignorance thereof. Giuen vnder 
my hand and the seals of the colonic, this 22d day of May, 
1683. Annoq. R. R. Caroli, 2d. Angliae, y'e. 35th. 

God saue the King. 

Tho. Culpepek. 1 

Ceiling's Statutes, Vol. Ill, pp. 563, 564. 



ABSTRACTS FROM VIRGINIA LAND PATENTS 

Published in Virginia Magazine of History and 
Biography 

John Neale, 500 acres in Accomack, upon Smith's Island, abutting 
against his land in the main. Due for the transportation of ten persons 
(names below). By West, June 18, 1636. 

John Hendrye, James Hutchinson, Henry Warner, Richard Harris, 
Peter Waneford, Anthony Stersby, Richard Graves, Robert Stackhouse, 
Thomas Sadler, Thomas Mitchell. 

William Mellinqs, 100 acres in the county of Accomack at the head 
of Old Plantation Creek. Due: 50 for his personal adventure, and 50 
by assignment from William Morton, to whom due for his own personal 
adventure. By West, June 20, 1636. 

There was recorded in Accomack the deposition, dated June 9, 1638, 
of William Melling, Gent. "He was a member of the House of Burgess- 
es from Northampton, July 1653, and March 1657-8. Soon after this he 
returned to England. There is a notice, June 28, 1661, in the Northamp- 
ton Records of William Melling, late of Virginia, now resident in 
London, Gentlemen." 

James Berry, 350 acres in Accomack, at Mogatie Bay, adjoining the 
land of John Alcone. Due: 50 for his personal adventure, 50 for the 
personal adventure of his wife, Elizabeth, and 250 for the transportation 
of five persons, Henry Lee, Mary Nelson, Joseph Hally, Mary Nablett, 
Robert Man. By West, July 20, 1636. 

John Forbush, 100 acres in Accomack, on the bay. Due for the 
transportation of two persons, John Lewis and Christopher Dixon. By 
West, June 20, 1636. 

Thomas Smith, 150 acres in Accomack, on Fishing Point Neck, near 
the land of William Berryman, and bounded by the creek which parteth 
Henry Bagwell's land from said neck. Due: 50 for his personal ad- 
venture, 50 for the personal adventure of his wife Sarah, and 50 for 
the personal adventure of his daughter Ann. By West, June 24, 1636. 

William Bibby, 400 acres in Accomack on the north side of King's 
Creek, and adjoining on the west the land of Capt. Epps. Due: 50 for 
his own personal adventure, 50 for the personal adventure of his wife, 
Mary, and 300 for the transportation of six persons: John Leech, 
Christopher Colvert, William Stephen, Archibald Richard, John Fitz 
Garrall, Ann Gedon. By West, June 24, 1636. 

James Knott, of Accomack, planter, who is desirous to keep a house 
of entertainment at the mouth of Hampton river in Elizabeth City 
County "whereby strangers and others may be well accommodated with 
great ease to the inhabitants in those parts," is granted 50 acres at 



356 



APPENDIX 357 

the mouth of Hampton River, bounded southerly by a Creek which 
parteth the same from the land of Captain Francis West, and northerly 
upon the Glebe Land, together with the house, "commonly called the 
great bowse," and all other houses, &c, thereon. By Harvey, March 
12th, 1632. 

Francis Stockley, 50 acres in the County of Accomack at Old Planta- 
tion Creek, adjoining the land of Henry Williams. Due for the trans- 
portation of one servant, Francis Jarvis. By West, Dec. 22, 1636. 

Henry Wilson, 50 acres in the county of Accomack, on Old Planta- 
tion Creek and adjoining the lands of Wm. Blower and Francis Stockley. 
Due for the transportation of one servant, Jasper Melton. By West, 
December 23, 1636. 

John Neale, merchant, 1,500 acres in the County of Accomack, begin- 
ning at a long point on the Seaboard side, and abutting northeast 
upon (opposite) Smith's Island. Due for the transportation of thirty 
persons (names not given). By Harvey, June 18, 1636. 

Edmund Scarburgh, 200 acres in the county of Accomack, on Magaty 
Bay. Due: 50 acres for the personal adventure of his late father, Cap- 
tain Edmund Scarburgh, and 50 for the personal adventure of his 
mother, Hannah Scarburgh, 50 for his own personal adventure, and 50 
for the transportation of a servant, Robert Butler. By Harvey, May 18, 
1637. 

William Cotton, 350 acres in the main branches of Hungar's Creek 
(now Northampton County), and adjoining the land of Captain William 
Stone. Due as follows (vizt) : 100 for the personal adventure of him- 
self and his wife, Ann Graves, and 250 acres for the transportation of 
five persons (names below). By Harvey, July 10, 1637. 

William Cotton, Ann Graves, Eleanor Hill, Richard Hill, Edward 
Esson, and Domingo and Samso, negroes. 

Thomas Savadge, carpenter, 100 acres on Old Plantation Creek, at 
Accomacke, abutting westerly on the land granted Roger Saunders, and 
thence east towards a creek called the Second Creek. By Harvey, March 
14th, 1632. 

(NOTE.) 

It appears from the records of Accomac that there were at this 
time two persons named Savage living in the county, viz: Ensign 
Thos. Savage, and Thos. Savage, carpenter. 

Nicholas Harwood, cooper, lease of 50 acres on the eastern shore in 
the county of Accomac, adjoining the land granted to William Blore 
(now in the tenure of William Burdett), being the land granted to 
Roger Saunders, deceased, in 1628, and assigned to said Harwood by 
George Traveller. Confirmed by Harvey, Oct. 20th 1634. 

William Berriman, 150 acres in the county of Accomack, on the Old 
Plantation Creek, adjoining the land of Henry Careleys, called by the 
name of "fishing poynt neck," and bordering on the creek that parts 
the land of Henry Bagnell from the said neck — due 50 acres for his 
personal adventure, and 100 for the transportation of two servants, John 
Causey and Edward Prince. By West, Aug. 6, 1635. 



24 



358 APPENDIX 

(NOTE.) 

In December, 1633, William Berriman was a church warden in 
Accomack. On July 9, 1634, he stated in a deposition that he was 
aged thirty-three years. In May, 1639, he was one of three persons 
recommended for Sheriff. {Accomack Records.) 

Nicholas Hoskins, of Accomack, yoeman (lease), 20 acres.. By 
Yeardley, Feb. 1st, 1626. 

(NOTE.) 

Nicholas Hoskins, born 1589, came to Virginia in 1016. His wife 
Temperance came in 1620. In 1624 they had a daughter Margaret, born 
in Virginia ( Hotten ) . 

Robert Browne, of Accomack, planter (lease), 20 acres adjoining the 
land belonwincc to the place of Secretary, at Accomack. By F. West, 
Sept. 20th.' 1628. 

Clement Dilke, of Accomack, gent., a lease of 20 acres belonging to 
the late Company, lying at Accomack, westerly upon the main creek, 
easterly upon the ground now in occupation of Thomas Powell, Fiskins; 
the said 20 acres being lately in the occupation of Captain John 
Wilcocks. Granted by Sir George Yeardley, February 6, 1626. 

Roger Saunders, of Accomack, mariner (lease), for ten years, 50 
acres adjoining the land of John Belore, deceased, now in the possession 
of said Saunders, and extending westerly on the waterside to the land 
of Captain Henry Flette. March 14, 1628. By John Pott. 

Roger Saunders was commissioner (justice) of Accomac, 1631, and 
member of the House of Burgesses, 1031-2. It appears from the 
county records that he died prior to February, 1633, and his widow 
seems to have married Wm. Burdett, of Accomac. 

William Smith, of Accomac, planter, lease, 100 acres in Accomac, 
bounding southerly on the land of John Falwood, and extending westerly 
on Chesapeake Bay. October 15, 1629. By John Pott. 

(NOTE.) 

The will of William Smith, of Accomac, was dated April 23d, 1636, 
and proved September, 1636. He requests that Mr. Cotton make his 
funeral sermon, and receive for it 100 lbs. tobacco; and that 50 lbs. be 
paid Garrett Andrews (carpenter) for making his coffin; the legatees 
are: Francis Millisent, Eliz. Harlowe, daughter of John Harlowe, his 
servant Daniel Pighles, who is to be given a year of his time and all of 
the testator's clothes. Appoints friends Nicholas Harwood and Walter 
Scott executors. Leaves small estate. 

John Howe, of Accomacke, gentleman (lease for ten years), 30 acres 
adjoining the land of Captain Clement Dilke, and the land belonging to 
the place of Secretary. September 20, 1628. By F. West. 

(NOTES.) 

John Howe was a commissioner (justice) of Accomac in 1631, and 
member of the House of Burgesses for the same county in 1632 and 



APPENDIX 359 



1632-3. Captain Daniel Howe, of Northampton County, was alive, 1653. 
It appears from the county records that John Howe was a Commissioner 
of Accomae from 1632 until his death, Commander-in-chief of the 
county from July, 1637. In a deposition, January, 1636, he states his 
age as 43, and he was dead before Jan. 2d, 1647, when the Court made 
an order to his administrators. 

From the manuscript records of the London Company, recently re- 
covered by the Virginia Historical Society, it appears that, Nov. 20th, 
1622, a patent for land in Virginia was granted to "Mr. Dilke, of 
Clements Inn, Middlesex, Gentleman." See Historical Society Magazine, 
Vol. I, p. 443, for a note on Clement Dilke. 

William Andrews, of Accomack, planter (as his first dividend), 
100 acres on the Eastern Shore of the "Bay of Chesapeiake," abutting 
northerly on Captain William Epes' land, and extending towards the 
persimmon ponds. Due for the transportation of Robert Owles and 
John Holmes, who came in the Southampton in 1622, at the charges of 
William Ferrar, Esq., who made over the rights to said Andrews. 
Granted by John Pott, March 14, 1628. 

(NOTE.) 

Major William Andrews was a justice of Northampton county 1640 
to 1655, and by his will, dated February 20, 1654, and proved, North- 
ampton County, Feb. 30, 1655, bequeathed his estate to his wife, Mary, 
sons, William, John, Robert, and Andrew, daughter Susannah, and 
granddaughters, Elisheba and Elizabeth Andrews, children of William 
Andrews. On February 19, 1659, William Smart, John Stringer, 
William Andrews, and Thomas Harmanson gave bond in Northampton 
as security to care properly for the persons and estates of the children 
of Lieutenant-Colonel William Andrews. 

Daniel Gugley, 400 acres in Accomack County, commonly called 
"the hog pen necke," due for the transportation of eight persons (whose 
names appear below). By West, June 25th, 1635. 

Pascal! (rocker, Peter Varlow, Thos. Dyner, Georg Kuckin, Thos. 
Peake, John Champion, Leonard Lwonarde, John Dennis. 

(NOTE.) 

Daniel Cugley married Hannah, widow of Ensign Thomas Savage. 
In 1630 he was sentenced to be pilloned for "scandalous speeches" 
against the Governor, but was pardoned. 

Charles Harmar, 1,050 acres (on the Eastern Shore) bounded on 
the west by the shore of the main bay, on the south by Old Plantation 
Creek, &c, due for the personal adventure of himself and his wife, 
Ann Harmar, and for the transportation of 19 servants (names below). 
By Governor West, July 3, 1635. 

Head rights: Charles Harmar, Anne Harmar, his wife, Evan Jones, 
Thomas Cole, James Courtney, Lazarus Manning, Thomas Davis,/' 
Rich'd Wryth, Jon. Symon, Rich'd Newton, Samuel Lucas, Eliz. Burnett, 
Rebecca Slaughter, and eight negroes named Alexander, Anthony, John 
Sebastian, Polonoa, Jane, Palatia, Cassanga. 






360 APPENDIX 



This patent was renewed by Richard Kemp, Esq., Governor, in the 
name of Elizabeth Harmar, daughter of said Charles Harmar, and 
150 acres added by patent September 17, 1644. 
"Teste 

Samll Abbott, Clr." 

Captain Thomas (Iraves, ancient planter (as his first dividend), 
200 acres on the Eastern Shore of the "Bay of Chesepeike," abutting 
southerly on the land of Captain Henry Fleet. Said land due by 
virtue of an adventure of five and twenty pounds, paid by the said 
Graves to Sir Thomas Smith, late Treasurer of the Company of Vir- 
ginia. Granted by John Pott, March 14th, 1628. 



NOTES TAKEN FROM VIRGINIA MAGAZINE OF 

HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY CONCERNING 

SETTLERS 

Charles Harmar, also written Harmer and Harman, was 
the son of John Harman, Warden of Winchester. He was 
an enterprising planter at Magothy Bay on the Eastern 
Shore, and a prominent man. When only twenty-four years 
of age, he came, in 1632, in the ship "Futherance" to Vir- 
ginia. His brother John, born at Chursdon, Gloucestershire, 
was a graduate of Magdalene College, Oxford, and a distin- 
guished scholar and clergyman, having translated into Greek 
and Latin the Westminster Catechism. In 1635, he deliv- 
ered an address at Oxford, was chosen Greek Professor, but 
lost the professorship, after the return of Charles the Second. 

Charles Harmar, in 1635, entered land because of the 
transportation of eight negroes, and the following white 
servants: Evan Jones, Thomas Cole, James Courtney, 
Lazarus Manning, Thomas Davis, Richard Wyett, John 
Symons, Richard Newton, Elizabeth Burnett, Rebecca 
Slaughter, Mary Chest. He died before A. D. 1644, as 150 
acres were granted on the 17th of September of this year to 
Eliza, daughter and heir to said Charles Harmar, and on 
May 1, 1654, this land was assigned by Thomas Harmar 
the son of Dr. John, the Greek Professor, who calls himself 
the heir of Eliza Harmar, to Nathaniel Littleton. 

In the Northampton County Records the widow of Charles 
Harmar is said to have married a Captain Littleton. 

Obedience Robins, born A. D. 1601, was with Charles 
Harmar, a member in 1632, of the first County Court of 

361 



362 APPENDIX 

Accomac, and was a brother of Richard of Northampton- 
shire, and of Edward a merchant in Accomac. His name 
and associations seem to indicate that he was of Puritan 
affinities. His wife was the widow of Edward Waters, one 
of the two shipwrecked persons, who, in 1610, refused to 
leave the Bermudas, with Sir Thomas Gates and Sir Geo. 
Somers, being pleased with the island. In 1618, the ship 
"Diana" arrived at the Bermudas and among the passengers 
was Grace O'Neill, then a girl sixteen years old. She be- 
came the wife of Waters, and they then moved to Elizabeth 
City, now Hampton, Virginia, where their first child, 
William, was born, who became an active citizen of North- 
ampton County. Before A. D. 1628, Edward Waters died, 
and his widow married Obedience Robins. In February, 
1633, William Cotton, minister of the parish, complained 
to the Accomac Court, that Robins had refused to issue 
warrants for the minister's tithes. 

Edward Robins, merchant in Accomac and brother of 
Obedience, died in July, 1641, and his daughter Rachel 
married Richard Beard, and Elizabeth became the wife of 
William Burgess. After William Stone of Northampton 
became its first Protestant Governor, Beard and Burgess 
moved to Maryland. Beard made the first map of Annapolis 
and belonged to the people "in scorn called Quakers," and 
Burgess was in sympathy with Cromwellians, at least, for a 
period. Jane, the wife of George Puddington a member of 
the Maryland Assembly, from Ann Arundel County, in 
1650, was a sister-in-law of Obedience Robins. Mount]' oy 
Evelin, the second son of George, formerly of Kent Island, 
Maryland, married in 1653, Dorothy the third child of 
Obedience and Grace Robins. 



APPENDIX 363 

William Andrews, Jr., was elected sheriff of Northampton 
by the Council of State, April 3, 1655, and was a member 
of the House of Burgesses for Northampton in 1663. In 
1656, it appears from an entry in the Northampton Records, 
that Mr. William Smart had married the widow of "Mr. 
William Andrews." Whether this referred to the father or 
son, the writer has no information. William Andrews, Jr., 
married Dorothea, widow of Mount joy Evelyn, and daughter 
of Colonel Obedience Robins, of Cherrystone. 

Captain Francis Pott was a Justice of Northampton, and 
of the quorum, March, 1656. In 1646, he was in England, 
and in a letter dated at London, March 26th of that year 
(and recorded in Northampton County), he tells his nephew, 
John Pott, that he had been disappointed in collecting money 
promised him by Mr. Nuthall ; that "my cozen, Menefie, 
hath paid 116 lbs. sterling for me," and his nephew is to 
satisfy the debt out of any of his (Francis Pott's) property, 
except his negroes ; he may expect from him a more ample 
direction by the next shipping ; in postscript says he received 
four more from Mrs. Menifye. He died in 1658, and by 
his will, dated August 5th, and proved in Northampton, 
October 11th, 1658, he leaves his property to his nephew, 
John Pott, Kinsmen Henry Perry and wife; godson Argoll 
Yardly ; godson Bishop "on the other side of the bay" ; 
"My Countriman" John Allen; to his (the testator's) 
sisters, 10 sterling each. Susanna, widow of Captain Pott, 
married in 1658, or 1659, William Kendall. 

There is recorded in Northampton a power of attorney, 
dated October 1st, 1660, from John Pott, of Patuxent, Mary- 
land, to John Severne, of Accomac. 

John Neale appears, from the Accomac records, to have 
lived on the Eastern Shore, and done a large business as a 



364 APPENDIX 

merchant between 1632 and 1639; in 1636 he makes a 
deposition, and states he was then aged about forty years; 
was a vestryman May, 1636 ; recommended for appointment 
as sheriff in 1636 and 1639; elected a Burgess on October 
21st, 1639, and was a commissioner (justice) in the same 
year. 

On September 25, 1637, William Bibby is spoken of in 
the Accomac records as recently dead. 

Captain William Epps, Mrs. Epps, Peter and William 
Epps were living on the Eastern Shore in 1623. In the 
census of 1624-5 the "muster" of Captain William Epps is 
given. It included himself, who came in the ship ''William 
and Thomas" ; Margaret Epps, who came in the '"George" 
in 1621, and thirteen servants. About 1619 Captain 
William Epps killed u in a private quarrel," Captain 
Stallinge. There is among the Accomack Records (at North- 
ampton C. H.) a power of attorney for William Epes, of 
the Island of St. Christopher's Esq., to William Stone, in 
regard to Epes' property on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. 
It is dated July 18, 1633. 



ABSTKACTS FROM ACCOMAC COUNTY RECORDS, 
RELATING TO BACON'S REBELLION 

From a great number of similar items the following are 
extracted : 

"Att a Court held for Accomac County July, 1677, it is 
ordered upon the peticon of John Sturges that a certificate 
be awarded him to the next assembly for fforty-six pounds 
of Butter and fforty-two pounds of Cheese, which was deliv- 
ered for the countries service against the late rebells, as 
appears by the attestation of Majr Jno. West." 

"Whereas Majr Edmund Bowman hath made it appeare 
to the court by ye attestation of Major Jno. West, that he 
had killed and founde salt and caske for thirteen hundred 
and twelve pounds of Beefe. It is, therefore, ordered that 
this be a certificate thereof to the next assembly." 

"It is ordered upon the peticon of Majr Jno. West for 
the sume of twelve thousand two hundred and fifty pounds 
of tobo and cask, for the public service against the lare 
rebells, and he having made oath to the same in open court, 
certificate thereof is accordingly granted him to the next 
assembly." 

"Whereas Mr. John Stratton hath made it appeare to 
this court by the oath of Capn Nath: Walker that hee the 
sd Walker did command a shallop belonging to the sd 
Stratton by the honorble govers, order in his majesties 
service against the late rebells; which shallop was cast 

365 



366 APPENDIX 

away in a storm in Warricks creek bay: It is, therefore, 
ordered that this be a certificate thereof to the next 
Assembly." 

"These may certify that I, the subscriber, whom (sic) 
are impowcred by the right honble Sir Wm. Berkeley G-ovr, 
and Capn general of Virginia to procure and impress such 
provisions as shall be needful for his present service. 

"These may certify that I have killed from Morris Dennis 
one Barren Cow for which I give this certificate. 

"John Stratton, Commissary." 

"At a court held and continued for Accomack County, 
September 14, 1677, upon the peticon of Majr Jno. West in 
behalf e of himself and fforty-ffour men, which were thirty- 
ffour daies under the command of the Governr Sir Wm. 
Berkeley in his Ma j ties service to James Citty, and having 
made oath to the same in open court, certificate thereof is 
accordingly granted to ye next assembly." 

"Ye humble peticon of Jno. Cropper: 

"To ye Worful court of Accomack county showeth that 
your peticonr being commanded and empowered by Coll. 
Southey Littleton, to impresse and provide Beefe for the 
countries use in qtr. anno 1676, ye peticonr with his horse, 
&c, was employed and expended time to the number of 
fforty-two daies or thereabout, which time, trouble, and 
service hath not bin got paid, or any part thereof, except 
two hides and offell, he made use of Mr. Richd Bayly; ye 
peticonr doth pray ye worshps order for certificate to the 
Assembly to have satisfaction for sd time and trouble accord- 
ing to nature thereof, and he will pray, &c." 

An entry made at the next term of the court shows that 
Captain Daniel Jenifer, in addition to his office of justice 



APPENDIX 367 

of the peace, was still further rewarded by being appointed 
high sheriff of Accomac county by Sir William Berkeley, 
and as Jenifer was a Catholic, the governor directed that in 
assuming the duties of the offices to which he had appointed 
him, he should not be required to take the oath of supremacy, 
which was accordingly done. He was also, together with 
Colonel Southey Littleton, of Berkeley's Court martial, for 
trying persons for participation in the Rebellion. 1 

Jenifer married Miss Annie Toft, who was reputed to 
have been the wealthiest and prettiest woman then living on 
the Eastern Shore of Virginia. They had a numerous 
family of children, among whom were three daughters 
named, Arcadia, Annabella and Atalanta. Soon after the 
retirement and death of Sir William Berkeley, Captain 
Jenifer removed from Accomac to the Eastern Shore of 
Maryland, where many of his descendants are said to be now 
living. He was the first of that name to come to America, 
and was the progenitor of Daniel Jenifer of St. Thomas, 
who was one of the Delegates from Maryland to the con- 
vention that framed the Federal Constitution. 

Berkeley's endorsement on the following petition shows 
that the Rebellion had not entirely transformed him into 
a brute : 

"To the Right Honorable S'r Wm. Berkeley, Knt., Gov'r & 
Capt. Gener'll of Virginia : 
"The humble peticon of lone Occahone, the widow of 
Phillip Occahone, late of Accomack County, dec'd, Humbly 
Sleweth : That Phillip aforenamed marry ye peticonr with 
a good and reasonable estate left by her former husband, of 
Watt's Island, in the aforesaid county, by name Walter 
Taylor, did in his lifetime wholly waste and conferred the 

'Hening, Vol. II, p. 545. 



368 APPENDIX 

same moreover and about, running himself farr into debt 
to the utter ruine of ye peticonr and her poore childring. 

"Howsoe it is, may it please ye Honourble the sd Phillip 
for his felonious and rebellious account having justly 
suffered death by the law, whereby what estate he should 
be possest withal at the committing the fact or any time 
sithence invested or possest wth any visible estate whatsoever, 
yet notwithstanding, ye poore peticonr is prosecuted and 
sued by the creditors of the sd Phillip to the ruine of herselfe 
and poore children. 

"The premises considered, ye paticonr doth humbly pray 
and implore ye Honourbles favorable clemency in requiring 
and commanding all persons whatsoever to desist and for- 
beare to sue or molest ye petr for any debt whatsoever 
contracted in the lifetime of the aforesaid Phillip Occahone, 
her late and dec'd husband, and ye poore petr shall as in 
duty bound ever pray." 

The petition is recorded with the following endorsement: 

"The aforesaid petition is granted, and I doe hereby 
forbid all persons from suing or molesting the aforesaid 
lone Occahone in the prosecuting and recovery of any debt 
contracted during the lifetime of the sd Phillip Occahone, 
as they will answer the contrary. 

"Dated this 11th day of January, 1676-7. 

"Wm. Berkeley." 

"The Right Honourable the Governr further declared at 
the signing hereof that the aforesaid Petr lone Occahone 
should freely enjoy all such estate as is in her possession to 
her own proper use, which I can testify upon oath when 
thereunto required. 

"Witness my hand the day and year aforesaid. 

"Daniel Jenifer." 



TWO CURIOUS WILLS FROM NORTHAMPTON 
COUNTY RECORDS 

"Iff itt please God I do dye, my debts being discharged, 
what debts remayne I give to Goodman Ffisher, and hee to 
see me layd in the ground like a man. 

"The mark of William 

Briar. 



"J. 



"The mark of 

Wilkinson. 



"The mark of 



"James 



Cranne. 



"27 Oct. 1639." 

"In the name of God, Amen, the 23th of April, 1636, I, 
William Smith, of Acchawmacke, in Virginia, planter, being 
at this present, blessed be God, sicke and weake in body, 
but sound and perfit in mynd and memory, doe institute, 
ordayne and make this my last Will and Testament, vigt. : 
Ffirst, I bequeath my soule unto the hands of Almighty God, 
my Maker, who gave it to me, and my bodye to the grave 
from whence it came, being assuredly persuaded of a joyful 
resurrection. 



369 



370 APPENDIX 

"Imps, I doe give and bequeath to the Church use One 
hundred pounds of tobacco. Item. My will is that Mr. 
Cotton shall make my funeral sermon, and he to have for the 
same 100 pounds of tobacco. 

"Item. That Garrett Andrewes, iif he be please to make 
my coffin, shall have for the same 50 pounds of tobacco, or 
anie other that shall make it of the best. 

"Ite. I give and bequeath to Francis Millisent one of the 
best shoates and a small Iron pott. 

"Ite. I will and bequeath to Elizabeth Harlowe, daughter 
of John Harlowe, the best sow there is undisposed of, which 
is the great sow bought of Mr. Wilson. 

"Ite. I doe give freely unto my servant, Daniel Pighles, 
one complete year of his time, and one of the best sow 
shoates. 

"Ite. I doe give and bequeath unto Alexr Wignall one 
hundred pounds of tobacco. 

"Ite. My will is that my servant Daniel shall have all my 
wearing cloathes, both Wolling and Linning and my peece, 
shotte bag and Home. 

"Ite. I doe institute, ordayne and make Nicholas Har- 
wood & Walter Scott my true & Lawful Executors of this my 
last Will and Testament, and they equally to have and 
enjoye, Debts and legacies being payd and discharged, my 
whole Estate. In witness hereof, I, the syd William Smith, 
have hereunto set my hand and seale the daye and year 
above written. 

(Signed) "William W. Smith." 
"Ysence : 

"Daniel Pighles, 
"Alex'r Wignall." 



TRANSLATION" OF CERTAIN INDIAN NAMES 
FOUND IN ACCOMACK AND NORTHAMP- 
TON COUNTIES, AND ON THE EAST 
ERN SHORE OF MARYLAND 

ACCOMACK : 'The other-side place,' or 'on the other side of water 
place' (Trumbull) ; 'the other shore' (Wm. Jones.) 

ACCOHANOC: Probably from Virginia Algonquian akahnok, 'people 
of the bending (curving) stream' (Gerard). 

CHESCONESSEX: Place of the Blue Birds. 

CHESAPEAKE: Virginia Algonquian K'tchisupiak 'people of the 
great saline water' (Gerard). 

CHINCOTEAGUE : Chingua-tegwe, 'large stream,' 'inlet' (Hewitt). 

CHOPTANK: Probably for Nanticoke tshapetank, a 'stream that sepa- 
rates' or 'divides.' (Gerard.) 

CUSCARAWAOC: 'Place of making white beads.' (Tooker.) 

KICOKTANK: 'Visiting Place.' 

MATTAPONY: 'Bad bread' or 'no bread at all' (Heckewelder) . 

MATOMKIN: MATTEMIKIN, 'to enter into a house.' (Heckewelder.) 

MATCHATEAGUE : Probably the same as Matchotic, 'bad baj^ or 
'inlet' (Hewitt). 

MATTAWAN: or MATTAWAMAN: 'River of shallows' (Hewitt). 
Meaning as applied to the Indians living on Mattawan River, 
Ontario. 

MATOAKS (Matoak?) : A mispelt form of Matoaka, 'to play,' 'to 
amuse oneself ( Gerard ) . 

MACHAPUNGA: 'Bad dust'; from 'matclii' 'bad,' pungo 'dust' (Hecke- 
welder) ; or perhaps 'much dust,' from massa 'great', in allusion 
to the sandy soil of the district (Mooney). 

NANTICOKE: From Nentego, variant of Delaware Uneohtgo, Unalacht- 
go, 'Tidewater people' ( Mooney ) . 

OANANCOCK: A corruption of wuwanndku, 'foggy, (Heckewelder). 

PUNGOTEAGUE: From pungotekw, 'sand-fly river' (Gerard). 

POCAHONTAS: Pocahontas, for Pokahantesu, a verbal adjective mean- 
ing 'he (or she) is playful,' 'sportive,'. Her real name was 
Matoaka (Matowaka), a word found also in the mispelled form 
of Matoka and Matoaks. The sole Algonquian root from which 
the name can be derived is metaw, 'to play,' 'to amuse one's 
self.' (Gerard.) 

POCOMOKE: Pocqueumoke, 'place of shell fish, clams, etc.' (Hecke- 
welder). Also 'knobby place.' 

PATUEXENT: 'Little Falls.' (Hendren). 

371 



372 APPENDIX 

POTOMAC: The word Patomeck (Patomek) is a verbal noun meaning 
'something brought,' and, as a designation for a place, may per- 
haps be short for, say, Enda Patomek, 'where something is 
brought' (Gerard). Heckewelder gives the meaning as 'they 
come by water.' 

POWHATAN: Virginia Algonquian Paica tan, 'falls in a current' of 
water (Gerard). 

QUANTICO: Quentico, Gentica or Kentika, 'a dancing, frolicking 
place' ( Heckewelder ) . 

WICOCOMOCO: Meaning unknown, but the last part, comoco, is the 
Powhatan designation, in composition, for a stockaded village 
(Gerard). 

WIKOMOCO: 'Place where the houses are building.' (Hendren.) 



A LIST OF TITHABLES IN NORTH'TON COUNTY, 
ANNO DOM., 1666 

Delivered in att a Court Held for the S'd County the 
28th of August, 1666 i 1 



Thomas Dunton 
Isaac Russell 
Robt. Dunworth 
Wm. Smith 
John Dike 
Daniel Jill — 6 



Jeasse Harman 
Tho. Owen— 2 



Benjamin Cowdree 
Josias Cowdree 
Cornelius Harman — 3 



John Kendall 
Owen Edmond 
Geo. South 
John Farrier 
John Tromblings 
Henry Newton 
Owen Hall— 7 



Peter Lang 
Cornelius George — 2 



James Sanders 
Perse Davis 
John Dalby — 3 



Henry Hall— 1 



John Dalby, Sen. 
John Dalby, Jun. 
John Seawell 
Hen. Bowans 
Richard Costinge — 5 



Lieft. Isaak Foxcroft 

Thomas Lucas 
t 4 nee:roes^8 



Richard Nottingham 
Wm Ewin— 2 



Att the Widow Gunter's: 
Richard Wildgoose 
Tony — a Frenchman — 2 



Simon Foscus, Sen. 
Simon Foscus, Jun. 
Thomas Foscus 
Mathew Patrick — 4 



Walter Mills— 1 



Arthur Armitradings 
Isaac Jacob 
Thomas Needy 
John Dawson 
Francis Broukes 
Sliven Avis 
Morgan Pouldin 
Wm. Stevens 
Henry Reade 
Derick Derickson — 10 



Lawrence Schyn 
Adryan Westerhouse 
John Richards 
Armstrong Foster — 4 

Mr. Tho3. Evans 
Mr. Haggaman — 2 



^his list prepared by F. B. Robertson, Eastville, Va., from records 
in Clerk's Office. 



373 



25 



374 



APPENDIX 



John Cole 
John Field 
Robt. Twilly 
Wm. Rabishaw- 



Thomas Baglev — 1 



John Farris 

Clause — a Dutch boy — 2 



Will Gatehill 
John Evans — 2 



Nicholas Hudson — 1 



Edward Joyne — 1 



Wm. Gaskin 
Robt. Gaskin 
Robt. Butler 
Nath'l Starkey 
Nat — a negro — 5 



Samson Robins 
Rich'd Ridge— 2 



Amos Garris — 1 



John Walter 
Jeremiah Walter — 2 



Will Morris — 1 



John Winborough, Sen. 
John Winborough, Jun. 
Frank Winborough — 3 



Capt Wm. Spencer 
Wm. Whittington 
Robt. Wiggin 
Wm. Scriven 
Jacob Hill 
Patrick Strelby 
Thomas Powell 
2 negroes — 9 



Mr. Wm. Westerhouse — 1 



Jas. Davis. Sen. 
Jas. Davis, Jun. 
Thomas Davis 
Stephen Lang 
Abraham Bownamy — 5 



Att Wilcox. Lambeth Groton — 1 



John Stockley 
John Bowin 
Thomas E. Smith— 3 



Robt. Foster 
Martin Saks — 4 
Phillipp Jacob 
John Foster 



Wm. Foster 
1 Servant — 2 



Walter Price 
John Clarke — 2 



Edw. Stevens 
Jno. Wilson — 2 



Jacob Bishopp 
Rich'd Bibbins— 2 



John Plumb — 1 



Thos. Church 
Sam'l Church— 2 



Thomas Parker 
John Hornby — 2 



Duncan Macnabb — 1 



John Basv — 1 



Robt. Harrison 
Robt. Hopkins — 2 



Abraham Sheppard — 1 



Edw. Cable— 1 



Will. Lawrence 
Thos. Berisford — 2 



Rich'd Duparke, Att Wibly's— 1 



Joseph Godwin 
Caesar Godwin — 2 



Abraham Heath — 1 



APPENDIX 



375 



Capt. Will Joanes 
John Lukes 
John Bulluck 
Harman Johnson — 4 



John Lyons 
Thos. Collins- 



John Mapp 
Peter Watson — 2 



Wm. Marhsiall 
Will Jipshott— 2 



Win. Hickman 
Joseph Huckman 
Thomas Rice — 3 



Mr. Thos. Rideinge 
Mr. Argall Yeardley 
Sam'l England 
Will Vaughanghom 
Hen. Matthew 
Griffin Morgan 
Tho. Rock 
Cataline — a negro — 8 



Abraham Vansoult — 1 



Nicholas Granger 
Thomas Wilson 
John Robins — 3 



Cannlus Pence — 1 



John Abbott — 1 



Phillipp Mongon ) Negroes 
Mary Mongon ] — 2 

Geo. West— 1 



Rich'd Ast 
Miles Growk 
Robt. Warbeton — 3 



Christopher Turner — 1 

Wm. Lyne 
Wm. Padgett — 2 



John Webb 
John Glassell 
Hen. Lartin 
Cornelius Areale 
Nan, negro woman — 5 



Capt. John Savage 
John Amis 
Edw. Ashby 
Robt. Tygar 
Tempsy Betha 
Sidney Field — 6 



Francis Pettitt 
Justman Pettitt — 2 



Will. Kennitt— 1 



Thos. Dimmer 
Tho. Nabe— 2 



Rich'd Patrick 
John Denby — 2 



Richard Jester — 1 



Coll. John Stringer 
John Tatum 
Robt. Chew 
David Grim 
Richd. Curtisse 
Tho. Oxford— 6 



John Dorman 
Roger Kirkman — 2 



Att Miss Robins': 
John Margetts 
Rich'd Robins, Jun. 
John Symonds 
John W 7 ooters 
John Archer — negro 
Tony — negro — 7 



Walter Mathews 
Andrew Smaw 
Wm. Savage — 3 



Mr. John Robins 
Tho. Parnell 
John King — negro 
3 negroes — 6 



Att M. Vosses': 

Thos. Loffing 

Nan — negro woman — 2 



John Francisco \ Negroes 
Arisbian, his wife \ — 2 



376 



APPENDIX 



Francis Jane, negro — 1 



Manuel Drigg — negro — 1 

Willis Saunders 
Daniel Keeth — 2 



Maj. Wm. Andrews 
John Andrews 
John Pirce — 3 



Geo. Isdell— 1 



Nicholas Howell 
Dexnion Hardiins 
Richard Williams — 3 



Will. Smith 
Tho. Hennige 



Christopher Stanley — 1 



Joseph Parkes 
Wm. Gilsty 
Wm. Smart 
Tho. Claydon^t 



Nath. Wilkins 

Rich. Cox 

George — negro man — 3 



John Daniel 
James Bowden 
Wm. Edmonds 
Black Jack — negro — 4 



Richard Hanby — 1 



Thomas Harmanson 

Daniel Call 

Geo. Jenkins 

John Marainge 

Wm. Sharpe 

John Wills — at mill 

Nan — negro woman — 7 



Tho. Blacklock— 1 



Dennis Omalegon — 1 



Harman Johnson 
John Maties — 2 



Lieft. Coll. Wm. Kendall 

Daniel Baker 

Geo. Morimer 

John Abraham 

John Parsons 

John Harris 

Jeter Morgan 

Morgan Thomas 

Geo. Massy 

Walter Mannington 

Mingo — negro 

Charles — negro 

Aron Franson ) Seamen 

Mathew Williams j — 14 



Mr. John Michaell 
Ed. Lokitt 
Peter Fountaine 
John Aleworth 
Rowland Williams 
William Gray 
Anthony Joanes 
Antony, negro 
Banelo, negro 
Frank, negro 
Dennisse, negro 
Ann — negro — 1 2 



Wm. Hamon ) Negroes 
Jane Hamon j — 2 

King Tony — negro — 1 



John Wilkin 
John Floyd — 2 



John Waterson 
Jacob Glassfield 
John Wilshire 
John Moore — 4 



Will Starlinge 
Tho. Turnell 
Hen. Morgan 
John Willett — 4 



Will Paule— 1 



Ellis Ap Hugh— 1 



Thomas Swendel — 1 



Bossaur — negro — 1 



APPENDIX 



377 



James Walker 
Hen. Williams 
Richd. Jacklock — 3 



Mr. Tho. Hunt 
John Pollicome 
John Darnell 
Wm. Shore — 4 



John Bagwell — 1 



Thos. Bagwell — 1 



Capt. John Custia 
John Robinson 
Michael Stone - 
Tho. Joanes 
Chas. Weissell 
Hen. Foreman 
Daniel Swindell 
Benjamin Perry 
George Lilly 
John Warppoll 
5 negroes — 15 



Robt. Haynes — 1 



Tenge Oderre — 1 



Matthew Trippin — 1 



Jeremia Robinson 
Robt. Smith 
Judith — negro — 3 



John Adolph 
Wm. Cord 
Jonas Dixon 
Derman Fox — 4 



Tho. Scott 
John Watts— 2 
Bastian Cane — negro — 1 



Thomas Bell 
Tho. Coleman — 2 



Joseph Warren — 1 



Jerom Griffith — 1 



Mr. Thomas Harmar — 1 



Stephen Costin 
Benoni Ward — 2 



Thomas Clay — 1 



John Stevens — 1 
Geo. Willis— 1 



Thos. Hogg 
Abraham Collins — 2 



Att Mathew Gittinge's Constable: 
Walter Carter 
Jowell James 
John Forthery — 3 



Francis Harper — 1 



Geo. Frizzell — 1 



Darman Lassland — 1 



Alex. Mills 
Rich'd Core— 2 



George Smith 
Wm. Lewis — 2 



John Allen 
Edw. Allen— 2 



Edw. Ennis — 1 



James Weatherly — 1 
Wm. Baker— 1 



Hen. Marshmant — 1 



Wm. Millinge 
Robt. Jilkin 
Arthur Bowzer 
Peter Vicar 
Isaak Venan 
John Wyer — 6 



Tho. Sheppard — 1 



Province Nelson 
Daniel Paine — 2 



378 



APPENDIX 



Thomas Moore 
John Owen 
John Moore 
Thos. Somersett 
James Bookett — 5 



Wm. Harper 
Rich'd Quinch- 



Geo. Freshwater 
Die. — negro — 2 



John Knight — 1 



Thos. Poynter 
John Hankins 
Tho. Fregue — negro 
Rich'd Richardson 
Mary Richardson, his wife 
Derman Clandum 
Francis Driggue | Xegroes 
James J — 8 



Neale Mackmillins 
John Jewett — 2 



Att the Widow Hall's: 
Hen. Michael — 1 



Barthlomew Cosier 
Francis Roberts — 2 



Wm. Geldinge 
Luke Geldinge 
diaries Geldinge — 3 



Left. Coll. Wm. Waters 

Peter Bastianson 

Lawrence Jaconson 

Tho. Reade 

Edw. Joanes 

Jacob Chilton 

Geo. Treherne 

Ed. Evans, als. Hopkins 

Sam Handee 

William — negro 

Bill— negro— 10 



Wm. Ennis — 1 



Richard Whitmarsh 

Wm. Waltum 

Robt. Holliday 

Sam Ames 

Tho. Davis — 5 

Mr. Francis Piggott 

Peter "I 

John 1 Negroes 

Thomas f — 5 

Jane J 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Accomac County Records, Accomac Court House and Va. State 

Library. 
Albany Records. 
American Historical Magazine. 
Anderson's History of the Colonial Church. 
Archives of Maryland, Proceedings of the Council. 
Asher's Henry Hudson. 

Bancroft's History of the United States. 

Barton's Introduction to Virginia Colonial Decisions. 

Bassett's Carolina Pirates. 

Beverley's History of Virginia. 

Bolton's Days of Makemie. 

Bozman's History of Maryland. 

Breevost's Verrazano the Navigator. 

Brent's Attitude of Eastern Shore in Bacon's Rebellion. Vol. XI, 

Va. Mag. Hist. & Bio. 
Brown's First Republic in America. 
Brown's Genesis of United States. 
Brodhead's History of New York. 

Bruce's Economic History of Virginia in the 17th Century. 
Bruce's Social Life of Virginia in the 17th Century. 
Bruce's Institutional History of Virginia in the 17th Century. 
Bureau of American Ethnology, Reports. 
Burk's History of Virginia. 

Calendar of Virginia State Papers. 

Campbell's Charles, History of Virginia. 

Campbell's Douglas, Puritan in Holland, England and America. 

Chalmer's Annals. 

Chitwood's Justice in Colonial Virginia. 

Colden's Five Nations. 

Cooke's History of Virginia. 

Crozier's Virginia Heraldica. 

De Costa's Verrazano the Explorer. 
Drake's American Indians. 

Fiske's Old Virginia and her Neighbours. 
Fiske's Beginnings of New England. 
Fiske's New France and New England. 
Fiske's Dutch and Quaker Colonies. 
Fiske's Myths and Myth Makers. 
Force's Collection of Historical Tracts. 
Foote's Sketches. 



379 



380 APPENDIX 



Greene's Genesis of the Counties, Slaughter's Memorial Pamphlet. 

Hawk's Ecclesiastical History. 

Heckewelder's History of the Indian Nations. 

Hendren's Virginia Indians, Johns Hopkins Magazine. 

Hening's Statutes at Large. 

Hotten's Immigrants. 

Howard's Hungar's Church, in Colonial Churches. 

Howe's Virginia History and Antiquities. 

Ingram's Proceedings, Force's Tracts. 

Jefferson's Notes. 

Johnston's Memorial of the Virginia Clerks. 

Kohl's Discovery of Maine. 

Long's Virginia County Names. 

Martin's Gazetteer of Virginia. 

Martin's History of North Carolina. 

Massachusetts Historical Society Collections. 

Mather's Magnalia. 

McDonald Papers, Va. State Library. 

McMaster's J. S., Makemieland (Speech, Pamphlet). 

Meade's Old Churches, Ministers and Families of Virginia. 

Mercer's Abridgment of the Laws of Virginia. 

Munsell's Annals of Albany. 

Murphy's The Voyage of Verrazano. 

Neal's History of the Puritans. 

Neill's Virginia Company of London. 

Neill's Virginia Carolorum. 

Neill's English Colonization of America in the 17th Century. 

Neill's Founders of Maryland. 

Neill's Virginia Vetusta. 

Neill's Virginia Colonial Clergy. 

New England Genealogical Register. 

Norwood's A Voyage to Virginia, Force's Tracts. 

Northampton County Records, Eastville and Va. State Library. 

O'Callaghan's History of New Netherlands. 

Osgood's English Colonies in America in the 17th Century. 

Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 
Purchas's Pilgrimes. 

Quincey's History of Harvard University. 

Robinson's Early Voyages to America. 
Rolfe's Relation. 

Sainsbury Papers, Va. St. Library. > 



APPENDIX 381 



Senate Documents, Extra 1874, Colonial Records of Virginia. 

Schoolcraft's Works on the Indiana of America. 

Smith's History of Virginia. 

Stanard's Colonial Register. 

Stanard's Bacon The Rebel. 

Stith's History of Virginia. 

Stockton's Bucaneers and Pirates of our Coast. 

T. M. Manuscript, Virginia State Library. 
Trumbull's Hand Book of the American Indian. 
Tyler's Cradle of the Republic. 
Tyler's Early Narratives of Virginia History. 

Upshur's Thomas Teackle, Various Articles in Virginia Magazine of 

History and Biography. 
Upshur's Pamphlet on Descendants of Governor Sir George Yeard- 

ley. 

Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 17 -volumes. 
Virginia Historical Collections, 11 Volumes. 
Virginia Historical Register, 6 Volumes. 
Virginia Company, Records of, Virginia State Library. 
Virginia State Library Fifth Annual Report. 
Virginia State Library, Various Manuscripts in. 
Virginia Official Reports on Virginia-Maryland Boundary Contro- 
versy. 

Week's Biographical Sketch of Edward Teach. 

Wheal ton's Maryland Virginia Boundary Controversy, 1668-1894. 

Wheeler's History of North Carolina. 

William and Mary Quarterly, 17 Volumes. 

Williamson's History of North Carolina. 

Winder Papers, Va. State Library. 

Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of the United States. 

Winthrop's History of New England. 

Winthrop's Journal. 

Wise's H. A., Seven Decades of the Union. 

Wise's J. S., End of an Era. 

Wise's B. H., Life of Henry A. Wise. 

Wise's B. H., Various writings of in Va. Mag. of Hist, and Bio. 



INDEX 

A larg list of tithables of 1666 is set forth in full in the Ap- 
pendix, and the names are not included in this Index. 



Aborigines, their history — p. 49, et 

seq. 
Abstracts from Virginia Land Patents 

—p. 356. 
Accohannock Indians, history of — p 

49, et seq., and pp. 52, 67. 
Accawmacke, The Kingdome of — p 

49, et seq.; Maryland taken from — 

p. 91. 
Accawmacke Indians — p. 16, et seq. 

and pp. 25, 32, 33, 49, et seq. 
Accomack, Accawmacke, Accomac 

Achomat, Acchawmac ; derivation 

of name — p. 49. 
Accomack, the Plantation and Town 

of— p. 27, 29, 31, 32, 33. 
Accomack, The Shire of (1634) — 

p. 81. 
Accomack County formed from North- 
ampton, p. 164, et seq., and p. 167. 
Accomack County, size of — pp. 1, 172, 

249. 
Accomack Parish — pp. 171, 266. 
Accomack in New England, present 

site of Plymouth — pp. 49, 50. 
Accomack County Court — p. 173. 
Accomack Court House — p. 233. 
Ace of Clubs Church — Pungoteague — 

pp. 272, 273. 
Acreage of Accomack County — pp. 

172, 249. 
Acreage of Northampton County — pp. 

172, 249. 
Act of Cohabitation— p. 232. 
Act for Ports— p. 233. 
Act of Toleration— pp. 156, 282. 
Addison, Alex. — p. 135. » 

Idison, John— p. 323. 

Ikinson. James — p. 136. 

ptators of revolt fined — p. 146. 

bany, Indian Council at — p. 224. 

gonquin Indians — p. 49, et seq. 



Allen, John — p. 363. 

Alleyn, Richard — p. 137. 

Ames, name of — p. 70. 

Ames, John — p. 125. 

Amies, Thomas — p. 355. 

Ammunition — pp. 38, 98, 121, 184, 

255. 
Amsterdam, Holland — p. 94. 
Analin, Abram (1623) — p. 37. 
Anderson. William, father-in-law of 

Makemie — p. 281. 
Andiaman, King of the Accohannocks 

and Curratocks — pp. 59, 122. 
Andrews, name of — pp. 39, 73. 
Andrews, Garrett — pp. 286, 358. 
Andrews, Robert — pp. 135, 319. 
Andrews, Maj. William — pp. 37. 40. 

97, 103. 117. 118, 120, 135, 142. 14.1. 

166, 257, 287, 288, 319, 359, 363. 
Andrews, William, Jr. — p. 136. 
Andros, Governor — pp. 224, 255. 
Anglicans— pp. 79, 170, 256, 265, 269, 

272, 273, 275. 
Anglican Church — p. 243. 
"Ann Clear," Scarburgh's Ship — p. 

150. 
Annamessex, Indian family of — p. 62. 
Annamessex, Town of — p. 178. 
Antigua — p. 124. 
Appeals from County Court — pp. 83, 

194, 196. 
Aquintica, Indian family of — p. 62. 
Argoll, Sir Samuel; his visit to E. S. 

in 1612— pp. 21, 22, 24, 27: 
"Arlington"; Seat of Custis family — 

pp. 46. 114, 200, 221, 245, 27$ 279, 

289. 332. 
Arlinston, Lord — pp. 114, 191, 192, 

199. 
Arlinston-Culpeper Grant — pp. 191, 

et seq. 
Armistead, ('apt. Anthony — p. 215. 



383 



384 



INDEX 



Armitradinge, Henry — p. 135. 
Armourier, Rev. John — p. 265. 
Arms, Inventory of, in 1623 — p. 38; 

law prohibiting sale of, to Indians — 

p. 64; persons required to carry — 

pp. 98, 121; selling of, to Indians 

—pp. 146, 255. 
Arseek, Indian Tribe — p. 18. 
"Artillery," trading ship — p. 150. 
Ascomb, John (1623)— p. 37. 
Askiminokonson Neck — p. 62. 
Assateague Bay — p. 112. 
Assateague, Emperor of — p. 62. 
Assateague Indians — pp. 62, 158, 300. 
Assateague Island — p. 61. 
Assateague War — pp. 158, et seq. 
Assawaman Indians — p. 300. 
Attitude of E. S. in Bacon's Rebellion 

p. 222. 
Attorneys — pp. 101, 102. 
"Avon," Charles County, Md., Seat of 

Governor — p. 108. 
Awascecencas, King of the Kickotanks 

—p. 60. 
Awburne, Richard — p. 310. 
Ayers, John — p. 135. 
Ayrs, name of — p. 70. 

Bacon, the Rebel— pp. 168, 193. 
Bacon, Col. Nathaniel, Sr. — p. 215. 
Bacon's Appeal to the people of the 

E. S. (Text in full)— pp. 209, 

et seq., 212. 
Bacon's Assembly — p. 216. 
Baconian Party on E. S. — p. 217, 

et seq. 
Bacon's Rebellion, causes of, etc. — p. 

191, et seq.; records of. on E. S. — 

p. 217, et seq. (See Appendix.) 
Bagwell, Henry, Burgess and 1st Clerk 

of Accomack Court — pp. 41, 42, 95, 

100. 
Bailey, Symon — p. 137. 
Baker, Daniel — p. 135. 
Baker, William — p. 255. 
Baldwin, Mr. — p. 23. 
Ball, Robert (1623)— p. 37. 
Ballard. Col. Thomas— p. 215. 
Baltimore, 1st Lord — p. 90. 
Baltimore, Cecilius, 2d Lord — pp. 90, 

103, 105. 106. 107, 126, 161. 
Racists— p. 251. 
Barbadoes — p. 124. 



Barlow, Ralph— p. 265. 

Barnaby, James — pp. 95, 135, 294. 

Barnes, John — p. 176. 

Barnett, John (1623)— p. 37. 

Barrett, name of — p. 39. 

Baselv, William, witness in 1634 — p. 

45/ 
Bateau, Dead Rise, style of craft — 

p. 292. 
Bateman, Mr. — p. 149. 
Batteries ordered to be built — p. 184. 
Battle of Jamestown (1676) — p. 206, 

et seq. 
Bayly, Bayley, Bailey, Bailie, name of 

and family of— pp. 70, 89, 170, 278, 

281. 
Baylv, Richard— pp. 117, 121, 137, 

240, 246, 247, 248, 322, 354, 366. 
Bayly, Robert — p. 136. 
Bayly, Samuel — p. 293. 
Bayly, Ursula — p. 323. 
Bay-side Road — p. 48. 
Beads — p. 300. 
Bear— pp. 54, 61, 195, 312. 
Beard, Richard — p. 362. 
Beaver Skins as currency — pp. 99, 

294, 300, 301. 
Beds— p. 294. 
Beer Bowls — p. 313. 
Bell, name of — p. 70. 
Beloat, name of, from Dutch Billiot — 

p. 72. 
Belore, Jno. — p. 358. 
Benjamin. William — p. 258. 
Bennett, John — p. 131. 
Bennett, Gov. Richard, his daughter 

marries Charles Scarburgh — pp. 86, 

125, 126, 128, 143, 145, 146, 149, 

164. 270, 294. 
Berkeley, Sir John — p. 112. 
Berkeley, Maurice, erector of salt 

works — p. 25. 
Berkeley, Gov. William — pp. 96, 111; 

his letter about Indians — p. 114; 

letter to Littleton — pp. 119, 165, 

171. 180, 188, 190, 199. et seq., pp. 

223, 274, 275. 
Rermuda — p. 124. 
Bermuda Hundred, Plantation of — p. 

23. 
i.erriman. William — pp. 84, 95, 257, 

314. 357, 358. 
Berry, James — pp. 84, 135, 356. 



IKDEX 



385 



Berry, Sir John— p. 220. 
Berry, Robert— pp. 115, 116, 137. 
Bequests to Quakers — p. 156. 
Beverley, Maj. Robert, arrest of — p. 

239, et seq.; 242, 355. 
Bibbe, Edward— p. 314. 
Bibbv (Bribby), William— pp. 37, 84, 

356, 364. 
Bier Test or Ordeal of Touch— p. 334. 
Billington. Luke — p. 135. 
Bills of Exchange, the first — pp. 94, 

299. 
Bird Cage — p. 313. 
Blackbeard, the Pirate— p. 186. 
Blaeklocke, Thomas (1623)— p. 37. 
Blackstone, name of — pp. 70, 73. 
Blake, name of — p. 70. 
Blake, Robert— p. 136. 
Bland, Giles— p. 216.- 
Bland, Gen. Richard— pp. 167, 202, 

203, 205. 
Blankets— p. 312. 
Bloomfield. name of — p. 70. 
Blous. William — p. 258. 
Blower, Goody (1623)— p. 37. 
Blower, John* (1623)— pp. 37, 40. 
Board of Trade Reports — p. 246. 
Boats— p. 291. 

"Bogey of Cradock Marsh," a tradi- 
tion — p. 330, et seq. 
Boggs, John, clerk — p. 101. 
Bolton, Rev. Robert, 1st Minister — 

pp. 85, 253, 254, 255. 
Books, names and number of in 

various libraries — p. 313, et seq. 
Boothe, Humphrey — p. 271. 
Boroughs — p. 240. 
Boston, People from, on Eastern 

Shore— pp. 73, 74, 76, 128; trade 

with— p. 294. 
Boston, Henrv — p. 180. 

ier, William — p. 136. 

darv Commission of Va. and Md. 

i. 181. 

iarv dispute between Va. and 

—p. 92. 

Iarv Oaks or Marriage Trees — 

181*. 

Din, name of and family — p. 70, 

l, Rev. L. P.— pp. 283, 307. 
an, Maj. Edmund — pp. 89, 102. 
220, 243. 244, 247, 365. 



Bowmans — pp. 70, 89, 278. 
Bowman's Folly, seat of Bowmans — 

pp. 89, 281, 289. 
Bradford, Nathaniel— p. 302. 
Branding Stock— pp. 307, 311. 
Brandy — p. 290. 
Brass — p. 299. 
lirent, Col.— p. 213. 
Brewce, James — p. 137. 
Briar, William— p. 369. 
Brickhouse, George, Quaker — p. 156. 
Bricks— pp. 175, 289, 290, 291. 
Bridges— pp. 104, 291. 
Bridgetown or Nassawattocks, Court 

held at— pp. 47, 117, 235. 
Brillyant, John — p. 136. 
Broad-Cloth— p. 313. 
Brown, Dr. Alexander, the historian — 

p. 28. 
Brown, Thomas and wife, Quakers — 

p. 158. 
Brownes— pp. 70, 278. 
Browne, Devoreux — p. 166. 
Browne, John — p. 137. 
Browne, Robert — p. 358. 
Browne, William — p. 137. 
"Brownville Farm"— pp. 60. 158, 281. 
Bruducke, Richard — p. 136. 
Bug-Eye, stvle of craft — p. 292. 
Bullock's Channel— pp. 10, 99, 186, 

321. 
Bunton, William— pp. 292, 299. 
Burdett, Thomas— p. 258. 
Burdette, William, member of first 

vestry— pp. 46, 95, 257, 259, 287, 

292, 312. 
Burgesses— pp. 196, 224, 245, 249. 
Burgesses from E. S. — pp. 39, 41, 

first; p. 94; none called for — pp. 

137, 138, 139. (See Appendix for 

list.) 
Burgesses, House of — pp. 166, 189, 

192. 
Burial Ground — p. 258. 
Burial Inscriptions — pp. 278, 279, 

280. 
Burne, James, Gent. — p. 14. 
Burnett, Elizabeth — p. 359. 
Bush rod Family — p. 70. 
Butler— p. 365. 

Butler, Joane, scandal-monger — p. 45. 
Butler, Robert— p. 357. 



386 



INDEX 



Butler, Thomas, husband of Joane — 

pp. 45, 46. 
Butter— p. 254. 

Butterfield, John (1623)— p. 37. 
Butterie. Thomas — p. 137. 
Byrd, Col. William— p. 225. 

( lade, name of — p. 70. 

California — p. 5. 

Calvert. ( harles— p. 264. 

Calvert, Christopher— pp. 136, 329. 

Calvert, Leonard — pp. 90, 92, 105, 

106, 180. 
Calvert, Samuel— p. 136. 
Calvert-Scarburgh Agreement — p. 182. 
Calvert-Scarburgh Boundary Line — 

pp. 164. 226. 
Calvert's Xeek— pp. 229, 233. 
Calvinists — p. 79. 
Cambridge, Mass. — p. 260. 
Campbell, Douglas; his argument as 

to Dutch influence in America — 

p. 77. 
Candles — p. 254. 
Canner, Master Thomas, of Bernard's 

Tnne, member of Gilbert's Expedi- 
tion (1603)— p. 10. 
Canoes — p. 291. 

Cans, a boy of Mr. (1623)— p. 37. 
Cape Charles — pp. 1. 3, 4, 15. 
Cape Charles City— pp. 31, 234, 236. 
Cape Fear — p. 4. 
Cape Henry, landing place of first 

expedition — pp. 12. 14, 52. 
Cape Horn — p. 4. 
Capel, name of — p. 70. 
Capps. William — p. 303. 
Careleys, Henry — p. 357. 
Carew, name of — p. 70. 
Carpenter, Anthony — p. 136. 
Carpenters— pp. 68, 236. 
Carpet for church — p. 257. 
Carter, Christopher (1623)— p. 37. 
Carter. John, of Corotoman — p. 100. 
Carter. Paul — p. 335. 
Carter, Thomas— p. 318. 
Carter, William — p. 320. 
Carver, Captain— pp. 202, 203; hung 

bv Berkelev at Old Plantation — p. 

204. 
(a ry. Francis — p. 112. 
Cathay, search for cause of discovery 

of E. S.— p. 3. 



( atholic ( lmrcli — p. 243. 

Catholic Colonists of Maryland — p. 

91. 
Catlett. John— pp. 177, 271. 
Cattle — pp. 158, 186, 311. 
Cattle Marks— p. 311. 
Causey. John — p. 357. 
Cavaliers — p. 111. 
Cavaliers in New England and Va. — 

p. 75. 
Cavalier Party on E. S. — p. 168. 
Cavalry. Regiment of — p. 116; body 

of horse — p. 121; or mounted 

troops — pp. 178, 189. 
Celebration of Burials — p. 320. 
Census, of 1623 — p. 36, cl seq.; of 

1625— p. 38. 
Chadwell, Daniel — p. 136. 
Chairs— p. 313. 

Chambers. James (1623) — p. 37. 
Champion. John — p. 359. 
Chandler, Job — p. 107. 
Chapman, Philip — p. 314. 
Charles City, Corporation of — p. 28. 
Charles I of England — pp. SO, 97; 

beheaded — pp. 110, 191. 
Charles II of England — pp. 85. 114; 

escapes to France — pp. 125, 183. 
Charles V, King of Spain — p. 8. 
Charltons— pp. 70, 73, 169, 278. 
Charlton, Bridget — p. 266. 
Charlton. Elizabeth— pp. 266, 319. 
Charlton, Henry, punished by Court 

for scandal oils speech about Rev. 

Wm. Cotton— pp. 45, 258. 
Charlton. Stephen— pp. 75, 101, 103, 

104, 112, 113. 120, 135, 257, 266, 

276, 293, 294. 307. 
Cheese — p. 365. 
Cheriton, Cherriton, Cherry tone, 

Cherrystone — pp. 15, 29. 84. ' 96. 
Cheriton Creek— pp. 29, 30. 31, 50, 

06, 234. 
"Chersonesus Orientalis," Eastern 

Shore called by English Sovereign 

-p. 2. 
Chesconessex Creek — pp. 60, 88, 170. 
Chesconessex, Indian family, of — pp. 

60, 67. 
Chest, Mary— p. 361. 
Chicheley, Sir Henry— p. 23fl. 
Chiles, Walter. "Hopeful Adventure" 

episode — pp. 141, 145, 297. 



INDEX 



387 



Chincoteague Indians — pp. 60. 300. 

Chincoteague Island (Gingo Teague) 
—pp. 52, 61, 67, 112, 116, 170, 308. 

Chincoteague Pony, origin of — pp. 
307, et seq. 

Choptico, Indian family of — p. 62. 

Chowan, Mass. — p. 49. 

Christian Religion in Va. — p. 251. 

Church Buildings— pp. 254, 255, 257, 
264, 268, 272. 

Church Neck — p. 266. 

Church of England — pp. 252, et seq., 
pp. 269, 271. 

Church on E. S. — p. 250, et seq. 

Church Plate— p. 278. 

Church Property — pp. 200. 267. 

Church Wardens — p. 265. 

Clark, George? — p. 314. 

Clams — p. 290. 

Clarendon, Edward Earl of. Lord 
Chancellor — p. 85. 

Clarke, Thomas — p. 136. 

Clawson. Alice — p. 319. 

Clayborne, Capt. William, Justice of 
Accomack — p. 42 ; his Kent Island 
troubles — pp. 89, 90; his naval 
fight— p. 91; attainted — p. 92; 
letter of marque and reprisal issued 
to Sheriff Taylor— pp. 93, 105, 106, 
108: Parliamentary Commissioner 
—pp. 125, 126, 215, 293, 294. 295, 
299. 

Clerks, appointment of — p. 99; im- 
portance of — p. 100: character and 
list of— pp. 101, 175, 196. 247, 249. 

Clerk's Office— p. 233. 

"Clifton." seat of Wise's— pp. 88. 281. 

Cloake. Edmund (1623)— p. 37. 

Cloth— pp. 257. 303. 

Clothing and apparel — p. 313. 

Coake, William — p. 135. 

Coast Patrols — p. 186. 

Cod Fish— p. 73. 

Coins— pp. 301, 302. 

Colebounie. William — pp. 137. 157. 

Cole. John— p. 175. 

Cole. Josiah, Quaker Missionary — p. 
155. 

Cole, Thomas— p. 359. 

Columbus, his belief that America 
was East Coast of Asia — p. 4. 

Commander-in-Chief of Accomack — 
p. 86. 



Commanders, their powers and duties 
—pp. 42, 83, 185. 

Commerce — p. 289, et seq. 

Commercial Houses — p. 94. 

Commissary Supplies Collected for 
Berkeley's Army during Bacon's 
Rebellion — p. 365, et seq. 

Commissioners of the Court, their 
powers and duties — pp. 42, et seq., 
47, 81, 83, 117, 143, 144. 

Commissioners of Plantations, deci- 
sion of in reference to Md. — p. 92. 

Commonwealth of England — pp. 108, 
111, 124: Northampton resists — 
pp. 134, 141, 162, 170. 

Commonwealth of Virginia — pp. 134, 
138, 141, 168. 

Communion Sets; Cup and Plate — 
pp. 259; of St. George's Church— 
pp. 273, 278. 

Compton, Spencer, Earl of North- 
ampton — p. 97. 

Contrill, William, Gent.— p. 14. 

Conantesminoc, King of the Matcha- 
teagues — p. 60. 

Concord Wharf — p. 87. 

Congan or Cogan, Daniel, of Boston 
and Northampton County — p. 74. 

"Conjurer" Scarburgh, see Col. Ed- 
mund Scarburgh — pp. 62, 63; his 
plot to destroy Indians — p. 86. 

Connecticut — p. 50. 

Conservative Party on E. S. — p. 169. 

Conspiracy of Indians — p. 117, et seq. 

Convention of United Colonies at 
Boston, Indian scares — p. 132. 

Conway. Edwin, clerk — p. 100. 

Conway family — p. 100. 

Cook, Thomas, clerk — p. 101. 

Coomes, John (1623)— p. 37. 

Coomes, William (1623) — p. 37. 

Corbin, Col. Coventon of Chincoteague 
p. S9. 

Corbin family — pp. 89, 170. 

Corn, great supplies of on E. S. in 
1619 — p. 64: as currency — pp. 99, 
254. 203. 204. 

Cornbury, Governor — p. 282. 

Corneliuson. Hugh Cornelius, Dutch 
merchant — p. 71. 

Corner, William — p. 136. 

Cornish. Thomas (1623) — p. 37. 

Cornley. John — p. 136. 



388 



I X DEX 



Cornwallis, Capt. — p. 91. 

Coronado — p. 5. 

Coroners — p. 249. 

Costin, name of — p. 70. 

Cotton, family of — pp. 73, 256. 

Cotton, Rev. William, second minister 
on peninsula — pp. 45, 74, 85, 106, 
255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 263. 286. 

Cotton, Verlinda — p. 256. 

Coulson, John — pp. 136, 137. 

Council of Colonies in Albany about 
Indians — p. 224. 

Counties, Northampton formed — p. 96. 

County Surveyor — p. 150. 

Court'Days — pp. 109, 154, 241; char- 
acter of and customs surrounding — 
pp. 328, 329. 

Court Houses; first a log-cabin in 
1632 — p. 47; Dinner or Poynt 
House at Old Plantation — p. 47; 
ordinary of Walter Williams at 
Nassawattocks — p. 47 ; Holt House 
— p. 47; places used for — pp. 149, 
175, 176, 223, et seq., 234, 235. 

Court Martial, Berkeley's Court to 
try rebels — p. 214, et seq. 

Court, Monthly for Plantation of 
Accomack, established in 1632 — 
pp. 41, et seq., 47; Clerks of — p. 
100. 

Courtney, James — p. 359. 

Court of Accomack County, when 
established — pp. 173, 175, 176. 

Court of Northampton — p. 99. 

Court Records of Accomack and Ply- 
mouth, oldest in U. S. — p. 50; 
peculiar cases cited in — p. 44, 
et seq. 

Courts, jurisdiction of — p. 83. Also 
see Commanders and Commis- 
sioners. Where held — pp. 104, 109, 
149, 175, 176; territorial juris- 
diction of — p. 154; manner of hold- 
ing— pp. 195, 272. 

Courts of Maryland — p. 62. 

Coventon, Nehemiah — p. 136. 

Cowdrey, Benjamin — p. 135. 

CoVs — p. 307.' 

Coxton, name of — p. 70. 

Crabs— p. 290. 

Craddock, Lieut, in command of first 
salt-boilers on E. S. — pp. 22, 59. 

Cradock Creek — pp. 99, 170. 



Cradock, Matthew, first Governor of 

M;i>s. — p. 76. 
"Cradock," seat of Teackles— p. 272. 
Cradock's Neck — p. 59. 
Crampe, Thomas (1623) — p. 37. 
Cranne, James — p. 369. 
Crecro, Thomas — p. 136. 
Creeks, Navigable — p. 248. 
Crockery — p. 313. 

Cromwell, Oliver — pp. 107, 110, 164. 
Cropper, family— pp. 70, 89, 170, 278, 

281. 
Cropper, Bowman — p. 89. 
Cropper, John I (Immigrant) — pp. 

89, 366. 
Cropper, Peter— p. 330. 
Cropper, Sebastian, Jr., married Misa 

Corbin — p. 89. 
Cross, John — p. 176. 
Crows — p. 195. 
Cugley, Daniel, married Hannah 

Savage, widow of Thomas — pp. 30, 

37, 56, 84. 259, 292, 314. 
Culpeper, Governor, a proclai 

by — p. 354. 
Culpeper, John, clerk — pp. 101. 
Culpeper, Lord — pp. 191, 192, 
Cultivation by Natives — p. 64 
Cups— p. 313. 
Curlew — p. 54. 
Curratocks. Indian familv c 

59, 60. 
Currency, Indian, see Ro 

Wampum Peake — p. 61. 
Curtaile Creek — p. 30. 
Curtis, Goodv, her row with 

Taylor— p/ 44. 
Curtis, John — p. 45. 
Cuskarawaocks — pp. 17, 51. 
Cushion for Church — p. 257. 
Custis family — pp. 70, 89, 114, 
Oust is. Daniel Parke — p. 331. 
Custis, Edmund — p. 248. 
Custis, John I (Immigrant) — j 

112; character of— p. 113. 
Custis, Genl. John of "Arlingi 

pp. 46, 47, 101. 107, 136, 19! 

201, 213, 221, 223, 239, 244 

279. 
Custis, John III— p. 303. 
Custis, Capt. John IV— pp. 18( 

246, 247, 248r 277, 278, 27S 

331, 348. 



INDEX 



389 



Custis, William (Immigrant) — pp. 

72, 136, 247, 335. 
Customs, Districts and Officers — pp. 

241, 316. 
Cuttin, Mr.— p. 131. 

d'Aunay— p. 296. 

d'Ayllon, Lucas Vasquez, founds town 
of San Miguel on James River — 
pp. 8, 9, 13. 
Dalby, name of — p. 70. 
Dalby, Jacob — p. 234. 
Dale, Sir Thomas, Gov. of Va. — pp. 

22, 23, 27, 252, 253, 300, 351. 
Dale, Lady Elizabeth, wife of Sir 

Thomas— pp. 36, 94, 327. 
Dale's Gift, original name of first 
settlement on E. S., founding of — 
pp. 22, 24, 25, 27, 28, 31, 81, 253. 
Dances and Dancing on Sundav — pp. 

322, 323, 324. 
Dandridge, Martha — pp. 114, 332. 
Darby, William— p. 325. 
Dauers, Sir John — p. 23. 
Davies, William (1623)— p. 37. 
Davis, name of — p. 39. 
Davis, Mr., master's mate of "Speed- 
well" — p. 130. 
Davis, Priece — p. 277. 
Davis, Thomas — p. 359. 
Dawe, George, clerk — p. 100. 
Dawen, Mr. — p. 304. 
de Soto — p. 5. 
Death Penaltv, only one case before 

1690— p. 47. 
^ bedeavon, The Laughing King of 
he Accomacks — pp. 29, 31, 32, 33, 
14, 50, 52, 54, 60, 81, 114, 115. 
id, between John Custis IV and 
i* wife Frances Parke — p. 348. 
ids, first recorded — p. 94. 
r— pp. 54, 61, 312. 
aware, claimed by Dutch — p. 72. 
aware, Lord — pp. 92, 253. 
Delaware River, trade in — pp. 124, 
295. 
i man, John — p. 135. 
nis, John — p. 359. 
nis, Morris — p. 366. 
nis, Robert, Parliamentary Com- 
lUsioner — pp. 125, 133. 
wood. Levin, Quaker — pp. 135, 
.56. 



Derby, name of — p. 70. 

Derrickson, Daniel, Dutch merchant — 

p. 71. 
Derrickson, Jacob — p. 296. 
Dew, Col. Thomas — p. 145. 
Dewey, George — p. 314. 
Dickson, Michael — pp. 277, 311. 
Dieppe, Frenchmen of, called Verra- 

zano, Jean Verassen or Juan Florin 

—pp. 3, 4. 
Digges, Gov. — pp. 154, 164. 
Dilke, Clement— pp. 30, 40, 358. 
Dimner, Thomas — p. 103. 
Dinner or Poynt House at Old Planta- 
tion used as Courthouse — pp. 47, 

109. 
Dishes — p. 312. 

Disposition of Families — p. 170. 
Dissenters in Va., send to New Eng- 
land for pastors — pp. 74, 79, 259, 

275. 
Division of Peninsula, two counties — 

p. 167. 
Divorce — p. 319. 
Dixon, Ambrose — pp. 117, 136, 157, 

180. 
Dixon, Christopher — p. 135. 
Dixon, John — p. 103. 
Dixon, Mike — p. 277, 311. 
Doe, Samuel — p. 322. 
Dogs— p. 311. 

Dog Collar, Dutch coin — p. 301. 
Dollings, John— pp. 117, 136. 
Domingo — pp. 256, 286. 
Dorchester, Mass., Immigrants from 

pp. 73, 263. 
Doughty, name of — p. 70. 
Doughty, Rev. Francis — pp. 47, 107, 

133, 268, 270, 271. 
Douglas, name of — p. 70. 
Douglas, Edward — pp. 97, 103, 116, 

135, 142, 255. 
Douglas, Wm. and Company, first 

commercial house — pp. 94, 299. 
Drew Edward (1623)— pp. 37, 45, 

257. 
Drew, Marie, her suit against Joane 

Butler in 1634— p. 45. 
Driggs, Immanuel — p. 287. 
Drisius, Rev. Samuel (Van Driesen), 

Dutch Treaty Commissioner — pp. 

147, 270. 
Drummond, Richard — p. 233. 



20 



390 



INDEX 



Drummond's New Mill Branch — p. 

266. 
Drummondtown — p. 233. 
Dry, William (1623)— p. 37. 
Ducks — p. 54. 

Duels & Duelling — pp. 39, 329, 330. 
Dunn, John — p. 327. 
Dutch Blanket Tract, bought by John 

Wise I, from Ekeeks, for seven 

blankets — p. 88. 
Dutch Blood on E. S.— pp. 72, 80. 
Dutch Books— p. 315. 
Dutch Commissioners endeavor to 

negotiate treaty with Virginia — p. 

143. 
Dutch Influence on E. S. — pp. 77, 126. 
Dutch Inhabitants on E. S. — p. 71; 

forbidden to trade with Indians and 

said to be in conspiracy with them 

— p. 128; in danger — pp. 132, 133, 

138; the court protects — p. 142; 

appeals to Governor and Council — 

p. 142; Dutch Commissioners — pp. 

143. 170. 
Dutch Merchants — p. 296. 
Dutch Plot to secure alliance of 

Indians — pp. 127, 132. 
Dutch Ships Captured — p. 146. 
Dutch Trade— pp. 71, 124, 125, 126, 

138, 238, 295, 296. 
Dutch Treaty, proposed — p. 147. 
Dutch War— pp. 71, 124; its effect 

upon E. S.— pp. 126, 132, 183. 
Duty on Tobacco — p. 237, et seq. 
Dye, John — p. 135. 

Eastville, known as "The Horns," also 
as Peachburg — p. 48. 

Eaton, name of — p. 73. 

Eaton, Ann— pp. 261, 262, 270, 271. 

Eaton, Nathaniel, first principal of 
Harvard College, flees to Eastern 
Shore — p. 74; Clerk of Hungar's 
Parish— pp. 260, 261, 262, 263. 

Eaton, Got. Theophilus, of New 
Haven— p. 262. 

Edmonds. Robert (1623)— p. 37. 

Edmunds, name of — pp. 39, 70. 

Education — p. 317. 

Edward, W.— p. 277. 

Edwards, John— pp. 137, 265. 

Effingham, Lord — p. 245. 

Ekeeks, King of the Onancocks — pp. 
60, 88. 



Elections, first — p. 94. 

Elements of Accomack Society — p. 69. 

Elizabeth City— p. 90. 

Elkington, Ann, wife of Capt. John 

Savage — p. 30. 
Elliot's Neck — p. 59. 
Ellis, John— pp. 135, 265. 
Elopements — p. 319. 
Elzey, Jno. — p. 161. 
Empson, name of — p. 70. 
Englishmen from Holland — p. 72. 
English Blood, purity of among 

Eastern Shoremen — pp. 69, 80. 
English Commerce preyed upon by 

Dutch— p. 126. 
English Puritanism, remarks of 

Douglas Campbell thereon — p. 78. 
English Reformed Church — p. 268. 
Entails— p. 319. 
Episcopacy on E. S. — pp. 250, et seq., 

269, 274, 281. 
Episcopalians — pp. 79, 278, 282. 
Epps, Mrs., wife of Captain William 

—p. 37. 
Epps, Margaret — p. 364. 
Epps, Peter (1623)— pp. 37, 364. 
Epps, Eppes, Epes, Capt. William — 

pp. 37, 39, 254, 330, 364. 
Escheat Districts — p. 241. 
Escheators— pp. 248, 249. 
Esson, Edward— pp. 256, 357. 
Ethnology of Accomack Indians — p. 

52. 
Evans, name of — p. 39. 
Evans, John (1623)— p. 37. 
Evelyn, Mountjoy— pp. 362, 363. 
Ewell, James — p. 175. 
Executions on E. S. during Bacon's 

Rebellion — p. 217, et seq. 
Eyre, family and name of — pp. 73, 

89, 278. 
Evre, John— pp. 246. 247. 
Eyre, Thomas — p. 277. 

Fairfax, James— pp. 322, 323. 
"Fame of Virginia," ship of Walter 

Chiles— p. 141. 
Farloe, Captain, put to death by 

Berkelev on E. S.— p. 214. 
Farmer, Charles (1623)— p. 37. 
Families, founders of early, on E. S. 

—p. 84. 
Farms — p. 98. 
Farrant, Philip — p. 135. 



INDEX 



391 



Fathers of Independence — p. 139. 
Fawsett, John, King's Attorney — p. 

325. 
Fees of Clerks — p. 195. 
Fendall, Governor, of Maryland — p. 

160. 
Fennel], Robert (1623)— p. 37. 
Ferries— pp. 258, 291. 
Fetherston, Richard, Gent. — p. 14. 
Figs — p. 316. 
Fincastle Resolutions, many years 

later than Northampton Protest — 

p. 140. 
Fines— pp. 99, 190, 257. 
Finney, family of — p. 70. 
Fish— pp. 61, 294, 312, 321. 
Fish Nets and Traps— p. 321. 
Fisher, family of — p. 39. 
Fisher, John (1623)— p. 37. 
Fisher, Philip — p. 247. 
Fishermen — p. 68. 

Fishing Point Neck, on Old Planta- 
tion Creek — p. 84. 
Fishing Point Church — pp. 255, 257. 
Fitchett, Edward, place of — p. 59. . 

Fleet, Capt. Henry pp. 358, 360. 

Fleet destroyed by Dutch in James 

River— p. 183. 
Fleet of Gov. Berkeley, collected at 

Old Plantation— p. 204. 
Fletcher, family of— p. 70. 
Fletcher. Col. George — pp. 145, 294, 

299. 
Fletcher, James— p. 294. 
Flood, Francis — p. 135. 
Flour — p. 293. 

Flower de Hundred, Town of — p. 33. 
Flowers— p. 316. 

Flushing. Staten Island — pp. 268, 270. 
Folly Creek— pp. 89, 170. 
Forbush, John — pp. 70, 84, 356. 
Ford, John, a witness in 1634 — p. 45. 
Fornication — p. 258. 
Forts— pp. 183, 184, 189, 193, 226, 

254. 
Fort George, seat of Wises' — p. 88. 
Fort Nassau. Soarburgh's ship carried 

to — p. 125. 
Fortesque,„name of — p. 70. 
Foster, Armstrong — pp. 95, 136. 
Foster, William— p. 236. 
Fowke, family of — p. 70. 
Foxcroft, family of — pp. 70, 278. 



Foxcroft, Daniel— pp. 101, 220, 267, 
277. 

Foxes— p. 312. 

Francis First, King of France, com- 
missions Verrazano — pp. 3, 6. 

Freeman Plantation — p. 175. 

Free Schools — p. 318. 

Freight Rates prescribed for Tobacco 
—p. 138. 

Frenchmen — p. 71. 

Fullard, John— p. 314. 

Fuller, Capt. William— p. 108. 

Funerals and ceremonies — pp. 258, 
320. 

Fur Trade — p. 94. 

Furniture — p. 313. 

Games — p. 61. 
Game Protection — p. 312. 
Gardner, Nathaniel — p. 131. 
Gardener, Captain, and his ship 

"Adam-and-Eve" — pp. 204, 205. 
Garnell, John — p. 137. 
Gascoyne, name of — p. 39. 
Gaskins, William — p. 137. 
Gates, Sir Thomas — pp. 11. 12. 
Germans — p. 71. 
Getterings, Mr. — pp. 267, 319. 
Getterings Controversv, over Glebe 

Lands— pp. 101. 267. 
Gibbons, General Edward, of Boston, 

buys Scarburgh's place — 150, 295, 

296. 
Gibbs, Jonathan — p. 95. 
Gilbert, Bartholomew, son of Sir 

Humphrey, visits E. S. in 1603 — 

pp. 9, 10, 13. 
Gillet, name of — p. 70. 
Gingaskins or Gingascos — pp. 58, 59, 

67. 
Ginger — p. 254. 

Ginguhcloust, Indian town of — p. 98. 
Glebe Lands— pp. 257, 264, 266, 267. 
Goats— pp. 303, 307. 
Godwin, Joseph — p. 327. 
Gom«an, the name of — p. 69. 
Goldfine, Samuel— p. 137. 
Goldsmith, Capt. Samuel — p. 117. 
Goodman, Francis — p. 136. 
Gookin, John — pp. 74. 261. 
Goring, name of — p. 70. 
Gosnold, Captain Bartholomew — pp. 

11, 12, 13. 



392 



INDEX 



Governor & Council ordered to E. S. 

to suppress Revolt — p. 14"). 
Gower, William — p. 136. 
Grain — p. 104. 
Graunger, Nicholas (1623) — pp. 37. 

135. 
Graves. Capt. Thomas, ancient planter 

—pp. 28, 37, 40, 41, 42, 43, 257, 

261, 263, 360. 
Graves, Ann— pp. 256. 259, 261, 262, 

263. 
Graveyard — p. 258. 
Graye, John — p. 136. 
Great Nusswattocks or Nandua — pp. 

56, 57, 60, 67, 122. 
Greek Testament — p. 259. 
Greene, Salomon (1623) — p. 37. 
"Greenspring," seat of Governor 

Berkeley — pp. 207, 214. 
Gretna Green, of Virginia — p. 319. 
Griffith's map of Maryland — p. 16. 
Guard Ships— p. 186.* 
Gunston, Chad. (1623)— p. 37. 

Hacke, Dr. George Nicholas, a native 

of Cologne — pp. 71. 135, 143, 144, 

247, 248. 315, 316. 329. 
Hackluyt, Richard, clerk — p. 11. 
Half Breeds— p. 288. 
Hall, name of — p. 39. 
Hall, Jane— p. 323. 
Hall, Thomas (1623)— p. 37. 
Hallet, name of — p. 70. 
Hallowav, Dr. John — pp. 45, 259, 

314. 316. 
Hamby, Richard — p. 135. 
Hansford, Col. Thos., first Martyr of 

American Liberty, hung on E. S. — 

pp. 206, 214. 
Harison, Richard, member of Gilbert's 

Expedition (1603) — p. 10. 
Harlowe, Elizabeth — p. 358. 
Harlowe, John — p. 358. 
Harmar. Elizabeth— pp. 359, 360. 
Harmar, Captain Charles; also spelt 

Harmer, Harmon and Harmor — pp. 

29, 42, 84, 91, 359, 361. 
Harmonsoti. Thomas — pp. 101, 144, 

197, 246, 276. 
Harmonson, William — p. 248. 
Harrington, name of — p. 70. 
Harrington, Edward — p. 135. 
Harryson, Allex. — p. 135. 



Harryson, Robert — p. 135. 

Hartree, Elial — p. 136. 

Harvard College, first Principal 

flees to E. S.— pp. 260, 262. 
Harvey, Sir John, Governor of V 

ginia— pp. 27, 91, 92, 162, 304. I 
Harwood. Nicholas, cooper — pp. ! 

357. 
Hastue. Elias — p. 95. 
Hatsawap, Indian family of — p. 62 
Havens, appointed by Governor a 

Council— p. 183. 
Hawes, Master, letter to, from Arg 

—p. 21. 
Bayley, John — pp. 240, 354. 
Healing, Robert— p. 330. 
Healthy Conditions on E. S. — p. 31 
"Hedric Cottage," seat of Scarbui 

—p. 87. 
Hellespont, Thracian, similarity 

Eastern Shore — p. 2. 
Helline, Susan — p. 186. 
Hendrye, Andrew — p. 136. 
Henrico, Plantation of — p. 23. 
Heresy — p. 268. 

Higby, Rev. Thomas— pp. 135, 26 
Higgs, John— p. 318. 
Hill, Eleanor — p. 256. 
Hill. Richard— pp. 55, 56, 117, 1 

136. 220, 247, 256, 265. 
Hills, Ismale (1623)— p. 37. 
Hinman, John — p. 137. 
Hint, Thomas— p. 135. 
Hitchcocke, Thos. (1623)— p. 37. 
"Hobby Horse," Scarburgh's si 

captures Boston vessel — pp. 

147. 
Hog Tsland — p. 331. 
Hog Pen Neck — p. 84. 
Hogs— p. 186. 
Holden, Charles— p. 101. 
Holland, Eastern Shore owes mucl 

—p. 80. 
Holland, Trade with — p. 295. 
Hollanders — pp. 71. 72. 
Hollinsworth — p. 179. 
Holston Creek— p. 283. 
Hoist on, Robert — p. 181. 
Holt House on site of Taylor He 

Eastville, used as courthouse 

47. 
"Hopeful Adventure" episode — p. 
Hopkins, name of — p. 70. 



INDEX 



393 



Hopton Heath — p. 97. 

"Horns, The," original name of East- 
ville— pp. 48, 58, 255. 

Horose. William — p. 136. 

Horses — pp. 158, 291, 307; legislation 
concerning and number of — p. 308. 

Horsey, name of — p. 70. 

Horsey, Stephen — pp. 137, 143. 

Hoskins, Anthony, first tavern keeper 
—pp. 94, 135. 

Hoskins, Nicholas (1623) — pp. 37, 40, 
358. 

Hospital for Soldiers wounded in 
battle (if Jamestown — p. 208. 

Hospitality of Planters — p. 322. 

Hott. John— p. 136. 

House of Burgesses — p. 85. 

Houses — pp. 38, 98, 289, 290. 

How. name of — p. 73. 

Howard, Philip — p. 325. 

Howard, Lord — p. 243. 

Howe, Capt. Daniel — pp. 145, 147, 
359. 

Howe. John, Burgess and Commis- 
sioner — pp. 37, 40, 41, 42, 43. 94, 
257. 358. 

Howson, Robert, clerk — p. 101. 

Hudson. Andrew, the Dutch Com- 
mander (Andreas Hudde) — p. 124. 

Hudson. Raphael — p. 137. 

Hudson, Richard — p. 137. 

Hungar's Church — p. 277. 

Hungar's Creek— pp. 31, 32, 48, 74, 
85. 95, 106, 117, 169. 

Hungar's Neck or Old Town — p. 59. 

Hungar's Parish — p. 106; Dutch 
Commissioner preaches in — pp. 148, 
250. ei seq.; 263. 264, 265, 266, 
269, 271, 273, 276, 277. 

Hunt, name of — p. 70. 

Hunt, Parson, first minister in Va. — 
pp. 11. 14, 251. 

Hunt, Thomas — p. 197. 

Hunting Creek — p. 266. 

"Huntington," seat of Robins family 
—p. 234. 

Huntsmen — p. 68. 

Husband, Richard, master of "Hope- 
ful Adventure" — pp. 141, 145. 

Hutchinson, name of — p. 73. 

Hutchinson, Randolph — p. 135. 

Hutchinson, Robt., clerk — pp. 101, 
174, 175, 220, 248. 



Immigrants, to E. S. from Holland 

and New England — p. 68, et seq.; 

tax upon — p. 82. 
Indentured Servants, escape of, to 

Maryland — p. 328; character of — 

p. 329. 
Independence of E. S. desired — p. 

168. 
Independence, Spirit of, born in 

Northampton County — p. 138. 
Infanticide, case of — p. 335. 
Indians of Eastern Shore; Origin and 

character of; unlike Indians of 

Western Shore — p. 53 ; Berkeley's 

letter about — p. 114. 
Indians, families and number of, on 

E. S. (in 1700)— pp. 67, 248. 
Indians, people of E. S. make laws 

concerning — p. 153. 
Indians, penalty for intercourse with 

—p. 41. 
Indians of Maryland — pp. 198, 226. 
Indians destroyed by ruse of "Con- 
jurer" Scarburgh — p. 87. 
Indian scares and expeditions — pp. 

115, 116, 117, 124. 
Indians, supposed plot of the Dutch 

with — p. 127. 
Indians die of smallpox — p. 187. 
Indian concubines — p. 320. 
Indian Lands; taken by whites — p. 

121; Laws about — p. 122. 
Indian names translated — p. 371. 
Indian Rock — p. 321. 
Indian Slaves — p. 288. 
Indian Troubles of 1659 and Assa- 

teague War — p. 158; troubles with, 

in 1676 — p. 223, et seq. 
Indiantown Landing — p. 58. 
Indian Trade — p. 64, et seq. 
Industries — p. 289, et seq. 
Ink— p. 254. 
Inscription on tombstone of John 

Custis IV— p. 333. 
Inns, see Taverns. 
Intoxication and Fighting in Court — 

p. 327. 
Iron-Work— p. 293. 
Iroquois Indians — p. 224. 
Islanders — p. 68. 
Ismon, Henry — pp. 240, 354. 

Jacob, Isaac — p. 310. 



27 



394 



INDEX 



Jacob, Capt. John— pp. 128, 129, 130, 

131, 145, 150. 
Jacobitism on E. S— pp. 223, 243, 

( / seq. 
Jacobson, Lawrence — p. 315. 
Jacobson, Peter, Dutch merchant — p. 

71. 
Jails— pp, 103, 17G. 
James I. King of England — p. 11. 
James II, King of England — pp. 85, 

244, et seq. 
James, John — p. 137. 
Jamestown, Island and Town of — pp. 

13, 23, 33, 81, 82. 
Jarvis, Christopher — p. 135. 
Jarvis, Francis — p. 357. 
Jefferson, Thomas — p. 167. 
Jeffreys, Gov. Herbert— p. 223. 
Jenifer, Capt, Daniel— pp. 215, 220, 

221, 247, 366. 
Jenkins' Bridge — p. 283. 
Jenkins, John — p. 122. 
Jensen, Abram, Dutch merchant — p. 

71. 

hnson, Abram — p. 296. 

hnson, Anthony— pp. 285, 286. 

hnson, George, "Proteus of Heresy" 

—p. 179. 

hnson, Jacob — pp. 249, 277. 

■hnson, James — p. 136. 

-hnson, John, Sr.— pp. 136, 137, 

285, 286, 296. 

>hnson, John, Jr.— pp. 136, 137, 285, 

2S6. 
Johnson, Obedience — pp. 220, 247. 
Johnson, Richard — p. 285. 
Johnson, Capt. Thomas — pp. 117, 119, 

135. 142. 143, 146, 265. 
Johnson, William — p. 324. 
Johnsons — p. 2S5. 
Jones, Capt. — p. 319. 
Jones, Evan — p. 361. 
Jones, Farmer — p. 130. 
Jones, Samuel — p. 136. 
Jones, William— pp. 31, 135, 142. 
Jordan, William — p. 136. 
Joynes, name of, and family — pp. 70, 

89, 170, 278. 
Jueyre, Nicholas — p. 137. 
Jury; right of, trial by, instituted — 

pp. 47, 196. 
Justices, power of, on E. S. — p. 83 ; 

character of— pp. 100, 110, 117; 

trouble among — pp. 143, 144, 247, 

249. 



Keale, Richard, soldier — pp. 14, 1 
Kellam, family of — p. 70. 
Kellam, Richard— pp. 137, 154. 
Kellar, family of — p. 70. 
Kemp, Col. Matthew — p. 215. 
Kendall, family of— pp. 70, 169, 
Kendall, George; member of 

council of London Company — p 
Kendall, Col. William— pp. 166, i 

208, 215, 216, 224, 235, 241, 

247, 275, 313, 314, 363. 
Kent Island, dispute over — pp. 9 

92, 293, 394. 
Kenton, Henry, "Chirugion" of I 

bert's Expedition (1603) — p. 1 
Key, Rev. Isaac— pp. 274, 275. 
Kickotan, Indian Village (Hamp 

— pp. 20, 23. 
Kickotanks, Indian family of- 

60, 67. 

Kictopeake, Indian Prince and i 

ruler with Debedeavon — pp. 20 

50, 54, 55, 60, 321. 
Kid, Captain, the Pirate — p. 185. 
Kiffyn, David— p. 137. 
King, Tom, of the Gingascos — p. 
King's Colors lowered by Dutct i 

Scarburgh's ship — p. 125. 
King's Creek— pp. 29, 84, 95, t 

169, 229, 264. 
King's Creek, persons sentenced t 

drawn across at stern of a bo 

p. 45. 
Kirke, Christopher — p. 137. 
Kirkman, Jeta, clerk — p. 101. 
Knight, family of — p. 39. 
Knight, Bennamine (1623)— p. 3 
Knight, Peter— p. 294. 
Knight, Robert— p. 131. 
Knott. James (1623)— pp. 37, 35 

Lamberton. Mr. — p. 130. 

Laces— p. 323. 

Lamby, Richard — p. 197. 

Lamont, James — p. 288. 

Land in Md. owned by Accomack! i 

—pp. 163, 176. 
Lands; alienation of, by Indi; 

protective laws relating there 

p. 64. 
Land Boundaries — p. 150. 
Lands. Seating of, on E. S. — p. 2 
Land Commission of Maryland- -pp. 

61, 62. 

Land Rent — p. 94. 



INDEX- 



SOS 



Larramore. Captain — pp. 202, 203, 

L 204- 

{Latin Books — p. 314. 

La Tour— p. 296. 

Lawrence, Richard — p. 177. 

Laws, people of E. S. authorized to 

make their own — p. 153. 
Layne, Sir Ralph — p. 19. 
Leases — p. 299. 
Leatherbury, name of — p. 70. 
Leatherbury, Thos. — p. 157. 
Lee, Mrs. Anna — p. 234. 
Lee, Hancock — pp. 234. 240. 247. 
Lee, John — p. 135. 
Leene. Edward — p. 137. 
Leman, Richard — p. 320. 
Lemman, Mrs. James — p. 314. 
Lenaps Nation — pp. 51, 52. 
Lenny, Anthony — p. 293. 
Lewis, John — p. 137. 
Libraries — pp. 272, 313. 
Limbo. Straits of — p. 18. 
faquor, Regulation of Sale of — p. 196. 
|ist of Inhabitants of E. S. in 1623— 
I p. 37. 

Litigation — pp. 101, 102. 
Little Annamessex River — p. 162. 
Little, John— p. 116. 
Littleton, familv of — pp. 70, 88, 89, 

170, 278. 
Littleton, Ann— p. 313. 
Littleton, Sir Edward — p. 88. 
Littleton, Col. Nathaniel I — pp. 42 
f 57, 70. 83: his character— pp. 88 
1 94, 95, 103. 105, 112; Berkeley's 

letter to — p. 119; his letter — pp 

120. 133. 135, 145, 168. 261, 271 

286. 288. 
Littleton. Col. Nathaniel II— pp. 246 

247. 
Littleton. Sarah — p. 280. 
Littleton. Col. Southev I — pp. RS. S9, 

169. 199. 200. 215," 220. 224, 225, 

274. 280, 2S9. 303. 314, 366, 367. 
Littleton. Col. Southey IT— p. 249. 
Livingstone, Col. Robert, of New 

York— p. 225. 
Locker, (apt. John — p. 111. 
Lock wood. Colonel, destroyed St. 

George's Church in 1861-5— p. 273. 
Loner Creek — p. 30. 
Jpi>g Parliament, see Parliament. 
%?ng Tail, Clavborne's Pinnace — pp. 
Tpl. 93. 



! 



Longman, Peter (1623) — p. 37. 
'Longshoremen — pp. 68, 69, 297. 
Lookout Station on Smith's Island — 

p. 186. 
Looms — p. 303. 
Lord Protector— pp. 107, 110; letter 

from, about Md. boundary — p. 162. 
Lord, Francis — p. 175. 
Loyal Gentry of Accomack in 1676 — 

p. 220, et seq. 
Lucas, Samuel — p. 359. 
Luddington, family of — p. 70. 
Luddington, Win. — p. 137. 
Ludlow, George — p. 307. 
Ludlow, Esquire — p. 113. 
Ludwell, Col. Philip — pp. 203, 215. 
Ludwell, Thomas, Sec. of Colony — p. 

175. F 

Luke, Jno. — p. 101. 

Macklannie, Mr. — p. 318. 
Machipungo Inlet — p. 99. 
Madison, Bishop, his map of Virginia 

(1807)— p. 16. 
Madoc, Welsh Prince, said to have 

visited N. C. — p. 4. 
Madoxe, Alexander — pp. 135, 137. ^ 
Magellan, his expedition of 1522 — pp. 

4, 8. 
Magge, Mark — p. 129; his depositions 

about capture of Boston ships — p. 

131. 
Magistrates and Constables — p. 196. 
Magothas. Indian family — p. 59. 
Magothv Bav — pp. 59, 84, 85. 99, 

116. 271. 
Magothv Bay Bean (pronounced 

Maggoty) — p. 59. 
Magothv Bav Church — pp. 257, 264, 

275. 
Mahogany Trees on E. S. — p. 317. 
Major, Christopher — p. 135. 
Major. Col. Edward — p. 145. 
Major. John — p. 95. 
Makemie, John Francis, father of 

Presbvterianism in America — pp. 

250, 281. 282, 2«3. 
Makule, John— p. 296. 
Malacca. Ptrait of — p. 1. 
Malt House — pp. 87. 302. 
Manaskons. Indian family of — p. 62. 
Manhattan. Trade with — p. 295. 
Manhattoe sachems send warning of 

Dutch plot— p. 132. 






INDEX 



ig, Lazarus — p. 259. 
un, Indian family of — p. 62. 
in and Manokin River — pp. 
179, 180. 
name of — p. 70. 
lliquaick, Indian family of — 
. 

■ and Reprisal, first letter of, 
d by Clayborne to Sheriff 
jr of Accomack — p. 92. 
ges — p. 319. 

ge Trees of Poeomoke River — 
9. 

ville — p. 187. 
iw, name of — p. 70. 
>tt, Robert — p. 135. 
11, Edward— p. 136. 
ill, Capt. Roger— p. 70. 
a, Edward — p. 326. 
, Capt. John, member of first 
•il of London Company — pp. 
<), 64. 
- for Indian trade — p. 64; places 
•stablished — pp. 154, 184. 
,nd, Indians of — p. 51; grant 
to Baltimore; — p. 90; many 
ists to, from Accomack — pp. 
05, 107; troubles in — p. 155; 
tance of, sought in Assateague 
— p. 159; settlement of — p. 
1 ; boundary troubles — pp. 161, 
i, 176, 177. 
"M viand Merchant," ship destroyed 
Pirates— p. 184. 
s Mount — p. 90. 
chusetts, people from, who 
ed to Eastern Shore — pp. 72, 
74, et seq. 

khusetts Indians — p. 50. 
Ires of 1622 and 1644— pp. 64, 
03, 114, 115. 

omekes, Indian tribe — p. 18. 
leagues, Indian family of — pp. 
16. 

pnngoes, Indian family of — 
!0, 67, 122. 

. Cotton— pp. 259, 262. 
7s, Benjamin — pp. 135, 265. 
7S, Phillip— p. 137. 

King of the Matomkins — pp. 
is. 122. 

in-. Indian family of — pp. 60, 
IS. 



Mattahunk, Mass. — p. 49. 
Mattawaman Creek — pp. 57, 94, 103, 

169. 
"Mattawaman," seat of Yeardleys — 

p. 84. 
Mattawames, Indian family of — p. 59. 
Matthews, Edward, clerk — pp. 101, 

136, 137. 

Matthews, Gov. Samuel — pp. 160, 164. 

Mauericke, Samuel — p. 131. 

"May Flower," Scarburgh's vessel — 

p. 292. 
Maynard, Lieutenant — p. 186. 
Major, Edward — p. 352. 
Meade, Bishop, his remark about 

court records of E. S. — p. 44. 
Mears, name of — p. 70. 
Mechanics — p. 68. 
Mecklenburg Declaration, many years 

later than Northampton Protest — 

p. 140. 
Melling. William, clerk— pp. 84, 101, 

137, 174, 291, 356. 
Melton, Jasper — p. 357. 
Menefie, Mrs.— p. 363. 

Mercer's Abridgment of Laws of Vb. 

—p. 166. 
Merchants — p. 293; prosperity of — 

p. 298 ; English and Dutch— p. 299. 
Merryday, Phillip — p. 135. 
Merrvfin, John — p. 136. 
Methodists— p. 251. 
Metomkin Inlet— pp. 89, 99, 170. 
Mexico — p. 5. 
Michael, Adam— p. 2S0. 
Michael, John— pp. 136, 280, 314, 320. 
Michael. Margaret — p. 280.- 
Michael, William — p. 101. 
Mid-Wife— p. 320. 
Military Districts and Precincts — pp. 

103, 116, 117. 121, 190. 
Military Forces sent to peninsula to 

suppress revolt — p. 146. 
Military Hospital— p. 208. 
Militia— pp. 116, 121, 184, 186, 188. 

et seq.; pp. 201, 204, 226, 245. 
Miller, Thomas— p. 136. 
Millisent. Francis — p. 358. 
Ministers— p. 250, et seq.; their 

salaries— pp. 258, 260. 
Minks— p. .311. 
Minshatt, Jeffery— p. 135. 
- • -'- - -*). 254. 



INDEX 



397 



Monroe, Rev. John — p. 277. 

Moose Skins— pp. 295, 299, 302. 

Morgan, Philip — p. 286. 

Mortimer, name of — p. 70. 

Moses, Francis — p. 352. 

Mountney or Mountjoy, Alexander, 

member of first vestry — pp. 46, 257. 
"Mount Custis" — p. 281. 
Mousay, House of, in Britain — p. 17. 
Mock Horn Islands — p. 186. 
Mohawks, Indian tribe of — p. 225. 
Momford, Thomas, Gent. — p. 14. 
Money— pp. 61, 99, 300. 
Moore, Edward — pp. 136, 248. 
Moore, Gilbert— p. 186. 
Morgan, Francis — p. 136. 
Morrison, Gov. Francis — pp. Ill, 112, 

255. 
Moteawaughkin, Indian family of — 

p. 62. 
Moultor, William — p. 137. 
Munds, William — p. 135. 
Murder, case of — p. 335. 
Murton, Rolf, Gent.— p. 14. 
Musical Instruments — p. 322. 
McXutt, Mrs., owner of Pocahontas 

Farm — p. 58. 

Namotacke, Indian exchanged for 

Thomas Savage — p. 28. 
Nandua, or Great Nusswattocks — pp. 

56, 57, 60. 67, 122. 
Nandua Creek— pp. 60, 88, 117, 170. 
"Nanjemie," Maryland, seat of Gov. 

Stone^p. 108. 
Nantaquaks, Nanticokes; Indian 

family of— pp. 18, 51, 61, 116. 
Nanticoke Indians — p. 160. 
Narragansetts, said to have been in- 
cited against English — p. 132. 
X;i>s;iwattocks, or Bridgetown, court 

held at— pp. 47, 59, 109, 117, 155, 

235, 264. 
Nassawattocks Creek — p. 169. 
Xaswattocks Parish — pp. 264. 276. 
Nassawattox Indians — pp. 27, 59, 62. 
Nat Turner Insurrection — p. 67. 
Nause, Indian tribe — p. 18. 
Naval Districts and Officers — p. 241. 
Naval Fight, first in America — p. 91. 
Navigable Creeks in 1700 — p. 248. 
Navigation Acts — pp. 124, 137, 296, 

297, 298. 
Neale, name of — p. 73. 



Neale, Capt. John, merchant and 
pioneer— pp. 40, 84, 95, 103, 260, 
261, 299, 356, 357, 363, 364. 

Neech, Daniel, clerk — pp. 101, 174, 
175, 249. 

Negroes, increase of — pp. 64, 116, 
187, 256; number of— pp. 285, 286, 
288. 

Nelson, name of — p. 70. 

New Amsterdam — pp. 127, 143. 

New England — p. 268. 

New England, place in, called Acco- 
mack, by John Smith — pp. 49, 50. 

New England Church — p. 260. 

New England, dissenters among Puri- 
tans there — p. 73 ; Indians and 
Dutch plot against English of — p. 
132. 

New England, Trade with — p. 295. 

New Netherlands, Settlement of — pp. 
124, 126, 143. 

Newell, Richard— p. 135. 

Newport, Thomas, same as Ensign 
Thomas Savage — pp. 32, 37. 

Newport, Captain Christopher — pp. 
12, 13, 28. 

Newton, Richard — p. 359. 

Newtown, Mass., Immigrants from — 
p. 73. 

Nicholson, Gov.— pp. 185, 244, 276, 
278, 328. 

Nine Pins, Game of, verv popular — 
p. 327. 

Nominy — p. 128. 

Non-Conformists— pp. 126, 243, 259, 
269, 271, 275. 

North Carolina, called "Dieppa," by 
Verrazano — p. 4. 

Northampton County, size of — pp. 1, 
172, 249; when formed — p. 96; 
derivation of name — p. 97; not 
represented in Assembly — p. 137; 
inhabitants desire independence — p. 
138. 

Northampton Grievances — pp. 172, 
195, et seq. (Text of, in full.) 

Northampton's Pledge to Common- 
wealth of England — pp. 134, et 
seq.; list of signers — p. 135, et seq. 

Northampton Protest — p. 137, et seq. 

Northampton Revolt of 1652; causes 
of; "Taxation without representa- 
tion" — p. 138, et seq. 

Norton, Toby— p. 117. 



398 



IXDEX 



Norwood, Col. Henry, his voyage to 
Va.— pp. Ill, 112, 113, 308, 322. 

Nottinghams— pp. 70, 71, 278, 281. 

Nottingham, Mr. — p. 235. 

Nottingham, Benjamin — p. 277. 

Nottingham, Richard — p. 136. 

Nowmetrawen, King of the Ches- 
conessex — p. 60. 

Nuthall, John— pp. 135, 363. 

"Occahannock," Scarburgh's Estate, 

sold to Bostonian — pp. 149, 299. 
Occahannock Creek — pp. 87, 98, 117, 

122, 130, 169, 172. 
Occahannock Indians, see Accohan- 

nock. 
Occahannock Parish — pp. 171, 266. 
Occahone, lone — p. 368. 
Occahone, Phillip — p. 367. 
Offenses, character of, in 1664 — p. 47. 
Okiawampe, Indian King of Accomack 

— p. 55 ; his will on record in 

Eastville— pp. 55, 60, 117. 
Old Plantation, first settlement on 

E. S.— pp. 22, 202, 203, 233, 257. 
Old Plantation Creek— pp. 31, 32, 84, 

95, 103, 116, 117. 
Old Town or Hungar's Neck — p. 59. 
Oldham, name of — pp. 70, 73. 
O'Neal, Hugh— p. 269. 
O'Neill. Grace— p. 362. 
Onancock, Town of— pp. 16, 67, 233. 
Onancock Creek— pp. 88, 98, 170, 283. 
Onancocks, Indian family of — p. 60; 

complain of loss of land — p. 121. 
Ornaws, Indian witness — p. 115. 
Onandagas, N. Y. tribe of— p. 224. 
Onecren, of Pocomoke — p. 118. 
Opechancanough, son of Powhatan — 

pp. 28, 29, 33, 58. 
Ordeal of Touch or Bier Test— p. 334, 

et seq. 
Origin of people — p. 68. 
Orphans' Court — p. 196. 
Osbourne, Capt. — p. 62. 
Owsamekin, sachem of Acooemack — 

p. 50. 
Oxen— p. 307. 
Ovstermen — p. 68. 
Oysters— pp. 61, 290, 312. 

Palisades — p. 254. 

Palmer, Rev. Thomas — p. 265. 



Pamunky or Pamaunkee River and 

Indians — p. 51. 
Panewell, John — pp. 135, 310. 
Pannell, John — pp. 135, 310. 
Paper — p. 254. 
Parahokes, King of the Chinco- 

teagues — p. 60. 
Parishes — pp. 250, et seq.; 264, 265, 

266. 
Parish Churches — pp. 250, et seq.; 

264, 268, 269, 272. 
Parish Clerk — pp. 259, 260, 261. 
Parliament — pp. 85, 105, 106, 108, 

124; Northampton resists — pp. 134, 

137, 138, 141, 265. 
Parliamentary Commissioners — pp. 

108, 141. 
Parliamentary Forces in Va. — p. 138. 
Parliamentary Party in Northampton 

County— pp. 138, 164, 168. 
Parliamentary War, new of — p. 102. 
Parke, Daniel— pp. 279. 331. 
Parke, Frances— pp. 331, 348. 
Parke, Thomas (1623)— p. 37. 
Parker family— pp. 89, 278. 
Parker, Elizabeth— pp. 322, 323. 
Parker, George — p. 248. 
Parker, John— pp. 101, 286. 
Parker, Peter — p. 89. 
Parker, Robert — pp. 265, 286. 
Parker's Creek — p. 266. 
Parks, name of — p. 39. 
Parker, Charles — p. 315. 
Parkes, John — p. 135. 
Parramore's Beach — p. 331. 
Parramore, John, punished for pro- 
fanity — pp. 44, 135. 
Parramore, name of — pp. 39, 70. 
Parsonage — p. 257. 
Parsons, name of — p. 39. 
Parsons, John (1623) — p. 37. 
Pascataquaek, Conn. — p. 260. 
Patents, Early — pp. 39, 40; bounds 

ordered to be recorded — p. 94. See 

Appendix for abstracts of early 

land patents. 
Patrick, Mrs. Judith — p. 156. 
Patrols for coast — p. 186. 
Patuxent— pp. 156, 272. 
Payne, William, a witness — p. 46. 
Peachburg, or "The Horns" — pp. 201, 

235. 
Pedington, Henry — p. 314. 



INDEX 



399 



Penal Church Laws — p. 253. 

Penley, William— p. 314. 

People's Committee, Northampton 

County Protest, 1652— pp. 139, 143. 
Pepper — p. 254. 

Perkinson, Lieut. Marmaduke — p. 32. 
Perry, Henry— p. 363. 
Petit House — p. 103. 
Petition to Gov. Berkeley after 

Bacon's Rebellion (Text in full) — 

p. 215, et seq. 
Pewter— p. 299. 
Pighles, Daniel— p. 358. 
Piggott. Francis — pp. 101, 246, 247. 
Pigot. James — p. 275. 
Pigot, Ralph— p. 248. 
Pigs— p. 311. 

Pilgrims of New England — p. 72. 
Pioneers — p. 68. 
Piper, name of — p. 39. 
Piper, James Vocat (1623)— p. 37. 
Piracy. Scarburgh's men commit act 

of— p. 29. 
Pirates — p. 184, et seq. 
Pirket, Miles, salt boiler — pp. 24, 25. 
Pitt, name of — p. 70. 
Pitt, Col. Robert— pp. 145, 248. 
Pitts, name of — p. 70. 
Planters, power and character of — p. 

99. 
Plover — p. 54. 

Plymouth Records, and those of Ac- 
comack oldest in U. S. — p. 43; 

called Accomack— pp. 49, 50, 262. 
Pocahontas Farm — p. 58. 
Pocomoke River — pp. 1, 3, 62, 63; 

naval fight in— pp. 91, 177, 178. 
Pocomoke Sound — p. 162. 
Pocomokes, Indian family of — pp. 62, 

118. 
Point Comfort, port of entry — p. 82. 
Poke, G., clerk— p. 101. 
Polecats — p. 311. 
Political Parties, division of, during 

Bacon's Rebellion — p. 199. 
Polling Places — p. 149. 
Pomegranate — p. 316. 
Pomoceomon, King of Mattawames — 

p. 59. 
Ponies, Wild— pp. 307. 308. 311. 
Population in 1623 and 1625— pp. 36, 

39; in 1634— p. 81; in 1643— p. 

82; causes of rapid increase in — p. 

82; in 1653 — p. 153; at Restora- 



tion— p. 171; in 1666— p. 187; in 

1700— p. 246. 
Porter, Peter (1623)— p. 37. 
Ports of Entry — p. 231. 
Pory, John, Secretary of Colony, 

Founder of salt works on E. S., and 

of first plantation on peninsula — 

pp. 22, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 54, 

303. 
Pott, Capt. Francis — pp. 287, 363. 
Pott, John — p. 363. 
Poulsons — pp. 70, 278. 
Poultry— p. 311. 
Powell, name of — p. 39. 
Powell, John, soldier — p. 14. 
Powell, John — p. 277. 
Powell, Mary, scandal-monger — p. 

272. 
Powell, Samuel — p. 137. 
Powell, Thomas (1623) — pp. 37, 358. 
Powhatan, King, Indian Chief — pp. 

14, 28, 29, 33, 50, 52, 58, 300. 
Powhatan Confederacy — pp. 51, 52, 

61. 
Powhatan Indians — pp. 25, 28, 33, 

49, et seq. 
"Poynt House" — pp. 103, 109. 
Poynt Ployer — p. 17. 
Precincts — p. 240. 
Preeninge, William — p. 137. 
Presbyterianism — p. 250, et seq. 
Presbyterian Church, founding of — 

p. 281. 
Price, Jenkin — pp. 112, 122. 
Price, Thomas — pp. 137, 180. 
Primo-Geniture. rule of, not popular 

—p. 319. 
Prince, Edward — p. 357. 
Proclamation of Royalists on E. S. 

upon death of Chas. I — p. 110. 
Profit, Jonas, soldier — p. 14. 
Protest Committee — p. 138. 
Protestants — p. 243. 
Protestantism — p. 183. 
Protestant Insurrection in Maryland, 

led by Stone of Northampton — p. 

105, et seq. 
Puddington, George — p. 362. 
Pungoteague Creek — pp. 86, 99, 122, 

170, 283, 285. 
Pungoteague, Indian village of— p. 

67; fort ordered to be built at — 

pp. 183, 266. 



400 



INDEX 



Punishment, for scandal - monger, 
drunkard, liar and thief — p. 45, et 
seq., 75; other punishments — p. 
272. 

Puritans— pp. 72, 73, 74, 75, 79, 11, 
256, 259, 260, 269, 270, 273. 

Puritan Element of Eastern Shore 
population — pp. 74, 75, 76, 144. 

Puritan Ministers — pp. 74, 250, 259, 
et seq. 

Puritan Movement — p. 72. 

Puritan Party on E. S.— pp. 168, 170. 

Quakers— pp. 63, 250, 269. 

Quakers on E. S. — p. 155; laws 

against and persecution of — p. 156; 

driven into Maryland — pp. 161, 

162; persecuted by Scarburgh — p. 

178; troubles at Annamessex — p. 

179; reported meeting of — p. 180. 
Quaker Meeting House, the first — p. 

156. 
Qualification for Office — p. 196. 
Quarter Court, appeal to — p. 83. 
Quequashkecaquick, Indian family of 

—p. 62. 
Quills, William (1623)— p. 37. 
Quilts— p. 313. 
Quinby's Farm or "Warwick" — p. 

279. 
Quinepiack, Conn. — p. 262. 
Quit Rents — p. 176. 

Races, Horse — p. 310. 

Raleigh, Sir Walter— pp. 10, 11, 251. 

Ratcliffe, family of — p. 70. 

Ratcliffe, Charles— p. 136. 

Ratcliffe, John, member of first coun- 
cil of London Company — p. 12. 

Read, James, soldier — p. 14. 

Rebels on E. S. — p. 215, et seq. 

Redding John — p. 193. 

Reformed Church— pp. 269, 270. 

Reformed Churchmen of Holland — p. 
79. 

"Rehoboth"— pp. 281, 283. 

Religion — p. 250, et seq. 

Religious Comparison — p. 251. 

Religious Sentiment, Early — p. 251, 
et seq. 

Religious Views, Liberal — pp. 250, 
et seq; 265, 269. 

Rennett, Martin — p. 314. 



Representatives of E. S. in Council 

and Assembly during 17th Century 

—p. 343. 
Reservations created for Indians in 

1654 — p. 64. 
Restoration — p. 164, et seq. 
Revell, Randall— pp. 45, 122, 136, 

161, 179. 
Revell's Island— p. 331. 
Revolt, Spirit of, suppressed by Gov. 

Bennett— p. 164. 
Ribbons — p. 323. 
Riccards Cliffs — p. 18. 
Rice, John — p. 293. 
Rich, Sir Nathaniel — p. 23. 
Richardson, Rev. Mr. Daniel — pp. 

274, 275. 
Richett, Mick — p. 136. 
Riding, Thomas — p. 220. 
Roads, Bay-side and Sea-side — pp. 48, 

291. 
Roanoke, Indian bead money — pp. 60, 

116. 119, 122, 300. 
Roanoke Island Colonists, Gilbert 

goes in search of — p. 9. 
Roberts, John — p. 135. 
Robins, family of — pp. 70, 169, 278. 
Robins, Dorothy — p. 362. 
Robins, Edward— p. 362. 
Robins, Capt. John — pp. 246, 247, 

272, 275, 276, 277. 
Robins, Mary, second wife of Capt. 

John Savage — p. 30. 
Robins, Col. Obedience, of Cheriton — 

pp. 30, 31, 33, 41, 42, 43, 56, 75, 96, 

97, 103, 116. 130, 131, 135, 142, 

168, 170, 171, 234, 257, 261, 265, 

293, 361. 
Robins, Sampson — p. 135. 
Robins, Samuel — p. 137. 
Robinson. Jacob — p. 249. 
Robinson, John — pp. 117, 137. -*" 
Robinson, Littleton — p. 249. 
Robinson, Tally — pp. 249, 280. 
Robinson, William, Quaker Mission- 
ary — pp. 155, 156. 
Rocky Branch of Hungar's Creek — p. 

48. 
Rodgers, name of — p. 39. 
Rogue's Island — p. 331. 
Rolfe, John, married Pocahontas — p. 

22. 
Rolling-Houses — p. 231. 



INDEX 



401 



Rooty Branch — p. 266. 

Roper, William II, Commander of 

Accomack— pp. 42, 57, 94, 95, 97, 

103. 
Round Heads — p. 126. 
"Royal Oak," ship seized — p. 238. 
Royalists — pp. 75, 102; proclamation 

of, on E. S.— pp. 110, 146, 167, 170. 
Royalist Religious Party — pp. 265, 

269. 
Royalist Revolt, led by Scarburgh — 

p. 138, et seq.; 141. 
Rozier, Col. Benjamin — p. 264. 
Rozier, Rev. Mr., of Hungar's Parish 

—pp. 74, 259, 261, 263, 264, 265, 

314. 
Ruckland, Richard, writer of slander- 
ous song about Ann Smith — p. 46. 
Rum— p. 290. 
Russell, Walter, "Dr. of Physicke"— 

pp. 14, 16. 
Rutter, John — p. 136. 
Rynners, or Rynnuse, Paul — p. 335. 

Sackler, John — p. 355. 

Salisbury, name of — p. 70. 

Salt Boilers at Dale's Gift — p. 22, 

et seq. 
Salt Industry, History of — pp. 254, 

303, et seq. 
Sanders, Widowe, a peculiar wager 

about — p. 46. 
Sandys, Geo., Treasurer of Company 

—p. 35. 
San Miguel, Spanish town on James 

River (1524) — p. 8. 
Samso, a West Indian slave — pp. 

256, 286. 
Sarapinagh, Indian tribe — p. 18. 
Sassafras Root — p. 299. 
Satchell, name and family of — pp. 

70, 278. 
Saunders, Roger, ancient planter — pp. 

40, 42, 43, 357, 358. 
Savage, family of, oldest family in 

U. S.— pp. 29, 39, 70, 84, 169, 278. 
Savage, Capt. John, son of Ensign 

Thomas — pp. 30, 31, 116, 166, 318. 
Savage, Ensign Thomas, ancient 

planter and first settler of E. S. — 

pp. 28. 29, 30, 32, 33, 37, 40, 56, 64, 

318, 357. 
Savage, Thomas, carpenter — pp. 40, 

137. 
Savage's Neck— pp. 29, 40, 84, 116. 



Scarburgh, the name of (frequently 
appears as Scarborrow, Scar- 
borough, Scarbrugh) — p. 69. 

Scarburgh, family; founding of — pp. 
84, 85, 86, 114, 278. 

Scarburgh's Report on Boundary — p. 
177. 

Scarburgh, Bennett — p. 249. 

Scarburgh, Sir Charles, physician at 
court of St. James — p. 85. 

Scarburgh, Col. Charles — p. 62; his 
character — pp. 86, 107, 126, 133, 
136, 150, 170, 176, 190, 200, 208, 
215, 216, 241, 243, 244, 246, 247. 

Scarburgh, Capt. Edmund, first of 
name in America — pp. 41, 42, 43, 
81, 85. 

Scarburgh, Col. Edmund — pp. 56, 62; 
his character and offices — pp. 85, 
94, 101, 102, 103, 105, 107, 114; his 
expedition against Indians — pp. 
117, 118, 119, 120, 124; his vessel 
captured by the Dutch — pp. 125, 
126; his ship captures Boston 
vessel— pp. 128, 131, 133, 135; 
leader of revolt — pp. 138, 139; ac- 
tion of General Assembly — p. 145; 
accused of selling arms to Indians 
—pp. 146, 149; flees from E. S., 
visits Boston and New Amsterdam 
—pp. 147, 149, 150; returns to 
E. S. — pp. 151, 152; his expedition 
against Assateague Indians — p. 
159; trouble with Maryland — pp. 
161, 162; Calvert-Scarburgh Line — 
pp. 164, 165, 166; heads cavalier 
element--pp. 168, 169, 171, 199; 
his part in formation of Accomack 
County — p. 171; his designs — p. 
172; divides peninsula — pp. 173, 
176; Boundary Commissioner — 
pp. 177, 178; his trip to Annames- 
sex — p. 179; his agreement with 
Calvert — pp. 181, 189; dies of 
smallpox— pp. 190, 194, 238, 265, 
267. 273. 286, 292, 293, 295, 298, 
302, 303, 304, 305, 306. 

Scarburgh, Mrs. Col. Edmund — pp. 
102, 170, 273. 

Scarburgh, Edmund III — pp. 220, 
247, 248, 299. 

Scarburgh, Hannah, daughter of 
Capt. Edmund, married John Wise 
I— p. 87. 

Scarburgh, Henry — p. 246. 



402 



INDEX 



Scarburgh, Matilda— p. 199, 286. 
Scarburgh, Matthew — p. 185. 
Scarburgh, Tabitha— p. 286. 
Scarburgh, William— pp. 200, 216. 
Scarburgh's Neck — pp. 59, 87. 
Schools — p. 317. 
Scott, name of — p. 39. 
Scott, Nicholas — p. 135. 
Scott, Walter (1623)— pp. 37, 358. 
Scott, William, pilot of "Sea Horse" 

—p. 125. 
Scovell, Geo., a witness — p. 46. 
Seabright, Solomon — p. 352. 
"Sea Horse," one of Scarburgh's 

vessels, her colors lowered by the 

Dutch— pp. 125, 152. 
Sea-Side Road— p. 48. 
Secretary of Colony, his tenants settle 

Accomack — p. 29, et seq.; his 

power to lease lands — p. 48. 
Selby, Toby— pp. 119, 136. 
Separate Province, inhabitants of 

Northampton desire a — p. 138. 
Sermons— pp. 254, 258. 
Servants, Indentured — p. 69. 
Settingbourne Parish — p. 271. 
Severn, name of and family — pp. 70, 

278. 
Severne, Dr. John— pp. 144, 314, 316, 

330, 363. 
Sexton— p. 260. 
Sheep— p. 303. 
Sheets— pp. 294, 312, 313. 
Shepheard, John — p. 277. 
Sheriffs, provision for — p. 81; oath 

of first^pp. 108, 196, 197, 247. 
Shingles— p. 293. 
Ship-builders and ship-building — pp. 

68, 94, 236, 289, 293. 
Shirley Hundred. Plantation of — p. 

23. 
Shoals— p. 197. 
Shoe Factory— pp. 87, 302. 
Shoemakers — p. 302. 
Sboes— p. 295. 
Shrimp — p. 54. 

Sicklemore, Michel 1, Gent. — p. 14. 
Silverware — p. 312. 
Six Nations, troubles with, and coun- 
cil concerning in Albany — p. 224. 
Slaiting, Win. W— p. 197. 
Slaughter, Rebecca — p. 359. 
Slaves— pp. 151, 256, 285, 286, 290, 

322. 



Sloat, name of, from Dutch Van Slot 
—p. 72. 

Slutkill Neck, derivation of name — 
p. 87. 

Small, Robert, soldier — p. 14. 

Smallpox, among Indians in 1667 — p. 
63; plague of, on E. S.— p. 187. 

Smart, William— p. 363. 

Smith, name of — p. 39. 

Smith, Ann, defamed by Richard 
Ruckland— pp. 46, 47. 

Smith, Capt. John — pp. 2, 9, 11, 12, 
13, 14; his description of visit to 
E. S.— pp. 15, 27, 50, 177, 321. 

Smith, Maj. Lawrence — pp. 215, 225. 

Smith, Richard— pp. 136, 137, 265. 

Smith, Thomas— pp. 84, 356. 

Smith, Thomas, of Kent Island, sen- 
tenced to be hung for piracy — p. 91. 

Smith. William (1623)— pp. 37, 40, 
136, 358, 369. 
. Smith Island, Maryland — p. 162. 

Smith's Island, off Cape Charles. Site 
of first settlement on E. S. — pp. 10, 
15, 21, 24, 25, 84; tobacco stored 
on for Dutch— pp. 148, 186, 264, 
303. 

Smith's Field— pp. 264, 275, 310. 

Smithfield, town of — p. 33. 

Smothergall, Samuel — p. 137. 

Snuggling— pp. 296, 297. 

Snipe — p. 54. 

Snuffers— p. 313. 

Social Conditions — p. 316. 

Society, elements of Early Acco- 
mack — p. 69. 

Society of Friends — p. 155. 

Somers, Sir George — p. 11. 

Somerset, name of — p. 70. 

Scmiinevville, name of — p. 70. 

Sone, Samuel — p. 135. 

Southampton, earl of — p. 253. 

Southampton River, warehouse in 
(1632)— p. 51. 

Southev or Southy, name of — p. 70. 

Southe'y, Mr. — p. ' 286. 

Southev, Ann. wife of Nathaniel 
Littleton— pp. 70, 271. 

South ren, Edward — p. 136. 

Spady, name and family of — pp. 69, 
278. 

Spears and spearing fish — p. 321. 

"Speedwell," British vessel — p. 130. 



INDEX 



4(K 



Spencer, William— pp. 101, 197, 246, 

247, 264. 
Spoons — p. 313. 
Sport and Sporting proclivities of 

E. S. people— p. 321. 
Sprigge, Thomas — p. 135. 
Stallinge, Captain, killed in duel by 

('apt. Epps, 1619— pp. 39. 330, 364. 
Star Chamber, its decision as to 

Maryland — p. 90. 
States General — p. 126. 
Stanley, name of — p. 70. 
Stanley, William — p. 135. 
Steers— p. 307. 

Stegg, Thomas, Parliamentary Com- 
missioner — pp. 125, 126. 
Stephens, Mollie, "the Injin Queen," 

anecdote — pp. 58, 59. 
Stevens, John — p. 111. 
Stevens, Major William — pp. Ill, 

112, 136, 281. 
Stingaree Point — p. 20. 
Stoakley, John— p. 277. 
Stockings — p. 254. 
Stockley, Francis — p. 84. 
Stocks— p. 258. 
Stone (Minerals)— p. 289. 
Stone, name of — p. 73. 
Stone, Capt. John, of Mass., and 

Northampton County — p. 74. 
Stone, Mathew — p. 136. 
Stone, Verlinda— pp. 256, 259. 
Stone, Gov. William, of Hungar's 

Parish and Maryland — pp. 39, 57, 

74, 95, 106, 107, 108, 255, 256, 257, 

259, 269. 
Storehouses, Indian — p. 104. 
Stratton, Benjamin — p. 277. 
Stratton. John— pp. 101, 365. 
Stringer, Hillary — p. 247. 
Stringer. Capt. " John— pp. 130, 131, 

135, 142, 165, 173, 220, 246, 247, 

275. 
Stringer, Stephen — p. 135. 
Stuarts, loyalty to— p. 242. 
Stubbins, Lee — p. 95. 
Sturges, John — -p. 365. 
Stuvvesant, Gov. Peter— pp. 125, 127, 

132, 133, 142. 
St. Christopher, Island of, in Mary- 
land— p. 39. 
St. George's Hundred, only Hundred 

on the Peninsula — p. 39. 



St. George's Parish, Accomack County 

—pp. 39, 266. 
St. George's Church, Pungoteague 

(Ace of Clubs Church)— pp. 86, 

272, 273, 275. 
"St. John of Amsterdam," Dutch 

ships captured — p. 146. 
Subscribers to Petition to Berkeley — 

p. 220. 
Summary of Conditions on E. S. in 

17th Century— pp. 336, 337. 
Sunnill or Sumsill, John (1623) — p. 

37. 
Surveyors and Surveying — pp. 85, 94, 

186, 241, 249, 291. 
Susquehanna River, trade in — pp. 294, 

295. 
Symon, Jonathan — p. 359. 
Symmonds, Mr. — p. 291. 

Tangier Island — p. 16. 

Tankard, John— p. 101. 

Tanning— p. 302. 

Tapestry— p. 313. 

Tariff— p. 298. 

Tatham, name of — p. 70. 

Taverns, first license for — pp. 94, 104, 
109, 175, 196; quarrels and intoxi- 
cation in — p. 328. 

Taxation without Representation ; 
Protest against (1652)— p. 139, 
et seq. 

Taxes and Taxation; six pence per 
capita for immigrants, E. S. ex- 
empted — pp. 82, 99 ; exemption 
from— pp. 201, 195, 242, 285. 

Taylor, widow, her row with Goody 
Curtis — p. 44. 

Taylor, John— p. 136. 

Taylor, Phillip, first sheriff. Clay- 
borne's Lieutenant in Kent Island 
troubles— pp. 57, 92, 97, 98, 103. 

Tavlor, Walter — p. 367. 

Taylor, William— pp. 136, 265, 303. 

Taylor House in Eastville used as 
courthouse — p. 47. 

Taylor's Bridge, the headless man of; 
a tradition — p. 331. 

Teach, Edward, real name of Black- 
beard the Pirate— p. 186. 

Teach, Mrs. Marv (n6e Justice) — p. 
187. 

Teackle, Margaret — p. 323. 






404 



INDEX 



Teackle (Teakle), Rev. Thomas — pp. 
86, 101, 102, 122, 170, 205, 268, 272, 
273, 274, 275, 314, 322, 324. 

Teeslocke, John— p. 136. 

Tegg, Richard— p. 265. 

Teggar, Richard — p. 137. 

Tenants of London Company and of 
Secretary Pory — p. 40. 

Tepiapon, King of the Nuswattocks — 
pp. 59, 122. 

Terrapin— pp. 54, 290, 312. 

Territorial disposition of political 
parties — p. 168, et seq. 

Thatcher, John— p. 136. 

Theatrical Performances; "Ye Bare 
and Ye Cubb," the first in America 
—p. 324. 

Thorn, Capt. William— p. 180. 

Throgmorton, John (1623)— p. 37. 

Thurston, Capt. Robt.— p. 131. 

Thurston, Thomas, Quaker Missionary 
—p. 155. 

Tilney, John— pp. 135, 314. 

Tithes— pp. 254, 260. 

Tithables, in 1653— p. 153; in 1666— 
pp. 187, 195; in 1700— p. 249. 

Tithables, a long list of names of, in 
1666, not indexed — p. 373. 

Tobacco; inspectors — p. 94; ware- 
houses — pp. 94, 98; as currency — 
pp. 99, 102, 105, 137; stored on 
Smith's Island for Dutch — pp. 147, 
150; price of — p 192; tobacco cut- 
ting troubles — p. 223, et seq.; 231 
238, el seq.; legislation concerning 
—p. 237, et seq.; 254, 260, 297, 
301; tobacco tickets used as cur- 
rency — p. 300. 

Todkill, Anas, soldier — p. 14. 

Toft, Annie — p. 367. 

Tombstones — pp. 278, 289. 

Tottans, Mass. — p. 49. 

"Town Field," Site of original town 
of Accomack — pp. 31, 235. 

Towns and Villages — p. 27, et seq ; 98. 
Town-building — p. 223, et seq.; 226; 
legislation concerning — p. 227. 

Trade, exemptions of E. S. — p. 83; 
regulations — p. 227, et seq.; 236, 
et seq.; 151, 154, 184, 197, 289, 
et seq.; illicit trade, 296, 297. 

Traditions— pp. 316, 330. 

Transquakin, Indian family of — p. 62. 



Traveller, Alice and George, husband 
and wife, prosecute Robt. Wyard 
for scandalous speeches about Alice 
—p. 46. 

Treaty, proposed by Dutch with Vir- 
ginia— pp. 127, 142, 147, 148. 

Trial by Jury instituted — p. 47. 

Troops, orders for training — p. 98; 
sent to E. S. for Assateague War — 
p. 161; number and character of, 
in Bacon's Rebellion — pp. 204, 205, 
et seq.; arrive from England — p. 
214. 

Truman, Thomas — p, 135. 

Tullys— pp. 69, 330. 

Turkish Merchant — p. 71. 

Tutors— p. 317. 

Tyers, John (1623)— p. 37. 

Tyng, Hannah, wife of Thomas 
Savage — pp. 29, 56. 

Uncas, Mohegan Sachem and ally of 

English in New England — p. 132. 
Upshur. Arthur — pp. 107, 279. 
Upshur, Thomas T.. VI— pp. 59, 158. 
T "pshurs— pp. 70, 89, 169, 278. 
Utensils — p. 313. 

Valences — p. 312. 

Van der Donck, Adrian, of New Am- 
sterdam — pp. 133, 268, 269. 

Van Hattem, Burgomaster of New 
Amsterdam and treaty commis- 
sioner — p. 143. 

Van Netzen, Goslin— pp. 329, 330. 

Van Slot, Abram, Dutch merchant — 
p. 71. 

Van Tienhoven, Treasurer of New 
Amsterdam, treaty commissioner — 
p. 143. 

Vaughans — p. 278. 

Vaughan, Grace — p, 287. 

Vaughan, Richard— pp. 117, 135, 265. 

Vaux, Henry, Quaker sympathizer — 
p. 155. 

Verrazano. Giovanni de, The Navi- 
gator, discovers the Eastern Shore 
in 1524. His description of the 
peninsula — pp. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 
13, 50, 52. 

Verrazano, Hieronimo de, map of — 
p. 5. 

Vesconte, Maggiolo, map of — p. 5. 



INDEX 



405 



Vestry and Vestrymen — pp. 195, 256, 
257, et seq.; pp. 261, 272, 277. 

Vestry Court — p. 265. 

Vessels, Merchant — pp. 292, 293. 

Vikings, pre-Columbian visitors — p. 4. 

Virginia Cloth— p. 303. 

"Virginia Merchant," the ship; Voy- 
age of — p. 11. 

Wachetak, Indian family of — p. 62. 
Waddelone, Nicholas — p. 135. 
Waddy, name of — p. 70. 
Wageman, Hendrick, Dutch merchant 

-p. 71. 
Waleford, John — p. 136. 
Walker, Capt. Nathaniel— p. 365. 
Walker, Capt. Peter — pp. 46, 116, 

135, 287, 307, 313. 
Walple, name of — p. 70. 
Wallop, John— pp. 220, 247, 303, 313. 
Waltham, John — p. 317. 
Wampumpeake, Indian money — p. 

300. 
Waples, name of — p. 70. 
Ward, William— pp. 136, 327. 
Warder, Robert — p. 109. 
Warehouse in Southampton River 

(1623)— p. 90. 
Warner, Col. Augustine — p. 215. 
Warren, Lieut. Ratcliffe, killed in 

Naval Fight in Pocomoke River — 

p. 91. 
Warwick or Quinby's Farm — p. 279. 
Washborne, John (1623)— pp. 37, 

175, 248. 
Washington, name of, first appears 

on E. S.— pp. 69, 70. 
Washington, George — p. 114. 
Washington, Jacob, first of name in 

America — p. 70. 
Watehapreague Inlet — p. 99. 

Watehapreague, town of p. 60. 

Waters, Lieut. Edward — pp. 97, 362. 
Waters, William — pp. 97, 135, 165, 

172, 173, 194, 234, 235, 246, 275, 

362. 
Waterson, John — p. 197. 
Watertown, Mass., immigrants from 

—p. 73. 
Watkins, name of — p. 39. 
Watkins, Daniel (1623)— p. 37. 
Watkins, Henry, first representative 

from E. S — pp. 37, 39. 



Watkins, James, soldier — p. 14. 
Wattkins, Peregree (1623) — p. 37. 
Watkin's Point, trouble about — pp. 

162, 177, 178. 
Watkinson, Cornelius — p. 325. 
Watson, George — p. 101. 
Wattam, John, a witness in 1634 — 

p. 45. 
Watts, James — p. 101. 
Watts, John — p. 248. 
Watts' Islands — p. 16. 
Wayman, Richard — p. 130. 
Wabster, John — p. 95. 
Weede, Henry — p. 95. 
Wellburn, Thomas, sheriff — pp. 185, 

247, 248. 
West, name and family — pp. 70, 89, 

170, 278. 
West, Lieut. Col. John — pp. 92, 199, 

204, 215, 247, 365. 
West, Capt. John, acting Gov. of Va. 

— pp. 92, 199, 204. 
West Hundred, Plantation of — p. 23. 
West India Company — pp. 126, 132. 
West Indies, Trade with — p. 295. 
Western Shore, natives of, kin to 

those of E. S. — p. 53. 
Wicocomocoes — p. 58. 
Wighcocomoco — pp. 16, 17, 18. 
Wignall, Alexander— p. 370. 
Wilbourne, Thomas — p. 299. 
Wildcats— pp. 61, 195. 
Wild Fowl — pp. 54, 312. 
Wilford, Captain, put to death by 

Berkeley on E. S— p. 214. 
Wilkins, name of — pp. 39, 70. 
Wilkins, Grace — p. 265. 
Wilkins, Peter— p. 303. 
Wilkins, John (1623)— pp. 37, 84, 97, 

257, 265. 286, 293. 
Wilkinson, J. — p. 369. 
Willcox, Captain John, ancient 

planter — pp. 31, 37. 39. 
Willett, William — p. 255. 
William, King of England — pp. 85, 

244. 
William, Agnes — p. 320. 
William, Henrv, ancient planter — pp. 

27. 28. 
Williams, name of — p. 39. 
Williams, Walter, keeper of first 

tavern at Nassawattocks — pp. 47, 

104, 109, 136, 327. 



406 



INDEX 






Williams, William (1G23)— p. 37. 

Wills, first recorded— pp. 94, 259, 26G, 
268. 

Willyams, John — p. 136. 

Wilson, name of — p. 39. 

Wilson, Henry (1623)— pp. 37, 84. 

Wilson, Robert— p. 236. 

"Wilsonia," seat of Upshurs — p. 169. 

Wilsonia Neck — p. 280. 

Winbrow, Barbara, tried for witchery 
in 1655 — p. 47. 

Wind Mills— p. 293. 

Wingfield, Edward Maria, first Presi- 
dent of Council of London Com- 
pany — pp. 11, 12, 13, 14. 

Wine — pp. 294, 295. 

Winstone, Dr. — p. 23. 

Winthrop, John— pp. 259, 260, 262, 
294. 

Wise, family, founding of, in Va. — 
pp. 70, 87, 89, 170, 278, 281. 

Wise, Col. Jno. I (Immigrant) ; his 
character — pp. 87, 89, 103, 122, 136, 
173, 176, 265, 273. 

Wise, Col. John II— pp. 199, 220, 240, 
354. 

Wissaponson Creek — pp. 31, 32, 40, 
48. 

Witches and Witchery, Barbara Win- 
brow — p, 47. 

Witnesses required to testify on oath 
—p. 223. 

Wharves— pp. 98, 227. 

Wheat— p. 293. 

Wheatley, David— p. 137. 

White, name of — p. 70. 

White, Ambrose — p. 101. 



White, Andrew — p. 102. 
White, Henry— pp. 136, 157. 
White, Nicholas — p. 294. 
Whitehead, John — p. 136. 
Whittington, William— pp. 61, 62, 70, 

108, 135, 142, 169, 220, 246, 247, 

318, 335. 
Whyte, Lewis — pp. 116, 117. 
Wolves— pp. 61, 195, 197, 311, 312. 
Woodlands Farm — p. 60. 
Wool— p. 303. 

Wormeley, Captain — p. 293. 
Wraxall, name of — p. 70. 
Wraxall, Capt.— p. 130. 
Wrote, Samuel — p. 23. 
Wroth, John — p. 23. 
Wryth, Richard— p. 359. 
Wyard, Robert, scandal-monger — p. 

46. 
Wyatt, Gov. Francis — pp. 237, 253. 
Wyett, Richard— p. 361. 

Yeardley family — pp. 89, 114, 169, 

278, 281. 
Yeardley, Argal or Argoll — pp. 57, 83, 

84, 94, 97, 103, 111, 112, 113, 118, 

121, 130, 131, 133, 135, 145, 190, 

197. 199, 289, 307. 
Yeardley, Argoll II — pp. 169, 199, 

246. 
Yeardley, Capt. Francis — pp. 98, 107, 

190. 
Yeardley, Gov. Sir George — pp. 24, 

29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 40, 84, 112. 
Yeo, Hugh— pp. 122, 166. 
Yorktown, meeting at, in 1635 — p. 91. 
Young, Thomas — p. 330. 









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